


Silent Ears

by SailorHexGirl



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abusive Family, Alternate Universe - Human, Car Accidents, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, Family Feels, Hearingloss, High School darma, Major Character Injury, Major character death - Freeform, Oh boy this started out so cute and it ended up here, Sad Ending, Slow Burn, Suicide, highschool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23418217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorHexGirl/pseuds/SailorHexGirl
Summary: The Quartz sisters are trying to get through school the best they can but when a little Pearl comes into there lives, things take an interesting turn for the oldest one. As Jasper falls for Pearl more and more she want's nothing more then to talk to her. There's only one problem. Pearl can't hear a word she says.
Relationships: Amethyst/Garnet (Steven Universe), Jasper/Pearl (Steven Universe), Rose Quartz/Greg Universe
Comments: 10
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted over on Fanfiction so this just now getting posted here too.  
> So who ELSE wasn't ready for the season final to Future?! I cried like a baby and instead of being productive I'm migrating my works. Totally being a productive adult -internal laughing and crying-  
> Anyway I hope you all enjoy this!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'm moving this over from Fanfiction there will be mistakes all around so be ready for them!

**Chapter 1**

Jasper groaned at the sound of her alarm clock going off next to her head. She reached out and hit the clock pretty hard, knocking it off the nightstand, but turning off the alarm like she wanted. She didn't want to get up for school but if she didn't go, she would never hear the end of it from her sisters. Mornings were the worst in this house. They only had one bathroom and usually had to fight each other to use it in time to leave. There was always shouting and shoving but they always managed to get ready enough to be considered decent before going out in public.

A sudden scream from the bathroom made her twitch in annoyance.

"I'm gonna kill whichever one of you did this!"

Jasper smiled as she sat up and scratched her wild head of hair. As she got up and made her way to the door she could hear her one sister laughing her butt off. When she opened the door she saw Amethyst doubled over in laughter at their sister Rose. Rose's face was beet red from anger and it made Jasper smile more.

"Nice look there bubblegum." Jasper said smirking while leaning on her door-frame. Rose's once blonde flowing hair was now a mess of pink curls down her back. She was half dressed for school when she wondered into the bathroom and saw herself in the mirror. Jasper had replaced her shampoo with pink hair-dye. It was revenge for turning Jasper's own blonde hair white as paper three days ago. Revenge was oh so sweet and pink. The only one who enjoyed their hair being a crazy color was Amethyst, who's was a light purple.

"Did you do this?!" Rose shouted as Amethyst laughed harder, making Jasper snort.

"Nope." She lied. Rose would shave her head in revenge if she knew it was Jasper, so she kept quiet. "Why, don't like it?"

"No!" Rose shouted making Jasper laugh "I'm gonna get in so much trouble now!"

"Aww class president is gonna get a slap on the wrist." Jasper said waving her hands to seem scared and it was too much for Amethyst, who fell over crying. "What will we _ever_ do!"

"Shut up!" Rose said throwing her hairbrush at Jasper, who ducked out of the way "And put a shirt on when you answer your door! That's disgusting!"

"Why? Jealous?" Jasper said gesturing at her chest.

"Not of those saggy balloons." Rose snapped.

"Saggy! Least there nicer then your wrinkly speed bumps!"

"Aww man!" Amethyst suddenly shouted from the door, drawing her sisters attention. "Its already past 7:30!"

All three sister froze for a moment before cursing and retreating to their rooms. They all scrambled around like headless chickens trying to get ready. If they were late one more time their aunt Yellow Diamond who was the principle would personally, in her words, "shatter them."

All three of them sounded like a bunch of wild animals as they ran through their house fetching all their things for school. Rose was running back and forth from her room to the bathroom trying to brush her teeth and find her purse while Amethyst was down in the kitchen shoving food into her bag while trying to eat a banana without choking. Jasper was throwing her bag on her shoulder as she hopped down the hallway, pulling her boots onto her feet. As Rose and Jasper ran down from the second floor Amethyst was running out the door, tossing bagels at them in her heist.

"We're dead!" Amethyst shouted as Jasper caught her bagel mid air while Rose missed and had to go back for it. "We're a hundred ways to dead!"

Jasper threw her bag into her lifted truck as they all ran towards it. Amethyst yanked the back driver side door open and hopped inside, almost losing her untied shoes in the process. Jasper followed quickly, jumping in and slamming the door behind her while Rose ran around the passenger side.

"The Keys!" Jasper shouted patting down her pockets in a panic "Crap!"

"Here!" Rose said tossing the keys at Jasper, hitting her in the face.

"Hey!" Jasper snapped as Amethyst reached out and grabbed a hairband from the cup holder on the dash.

"Go! Go! Go!" Amethyst yelled in the back seat as Rose hopped in.

Jasper jammed the keys into the ignition and brought the truck to life as she hastily put her seat-belt on. She threw the truck into reverse and flew down the driveway as Rose slammed her door shut. As soon as the truck tires hit the asphalt Jasper put the car in drive and screeched down the street, leaving a burnout behind them. The radio was all the way up blasting some heavy metal song as they flew through their quiet Beach City town. Jasper didn't slow down as they approached the school. She flew the truck into the student parking lot and screeched to a stop in their parking spot. The second the car stopped moving they were jumping out.

"Time!" Jasper called as they started running towards the front doors across the campus.

"7:58!" Amethyst called from behind her as she was throwing her hair up into a messy bun on her head.

"Plenty of time!" Jasper said.

"Are you for real?!" Rose snapped as they flew past the outside of the gym. "We only have 2 minutes! How is that enough time?!"

"Yea, its enough time for me!" Jasper sneered picking up speed. "See ya suckers!"

"Jasper!"

Jasper was faster then her sisters. Being on the track and volleyball team helped shape her into a fit six foot six inch tall babe. Her muscles always looked like they were gonna rip apart the cloths she wore. Orange tank-tops under an unbuttoned button up black shirt and black shorts were her usual choice for cloths along with black combat boots, regardless of the weather, where her sisters had different styles. Rose always wore bright colored dresses or skinny jeans that hugged her six foot curvy frame. She always had some shade of pink on her body, probably what prompted Jasper to choose pink dye for her revenge prank. Amethyst was always in some sort of band shirt with baggy cargo pants or shorts along with a purple wrist band. Her short stature of only about 5 feet 2 inches made her own curvy figure fill out her cloths in funny but cute ways. They were all wildly different with their fashion choices but then again, they were all wildly different people.

Jasper was the first to reach the schools front doors. Her and Rose flew through them as the teachers were closing them. Thanks to there height and speed they made it inside where as Amethyst was too slow. She banged on the door as her sisters ran on ahead of her, laughing. She was caught.

Jasper and Rose rounded the end of the hallway quickly as the bell rang for their homeroom to start. They both raced to their classrooms as they heard kids yelling at them. The school called it the big Quartz race because they were always running late like this. The students started making bets for fun against them. Betting who would get caught, or trip, or make it into class on time. The teachers would discourage it but secretly par-took in the fun.

When they reached their respective classrooms Rose over shot her turn and slid past the door where Jasper didn't and flew inside. Both doors slammed shut and Rose was locked out. She was late.

Flying into the room, Jasper accidentally body slammed into her best friend Peridot, who yelled in surprise that turned to protest. Jasper wrapped her arm around Peridot and did a clumsy spin in a circle as her friends Malachite and Sugilite beat their fists on their desks before throwing them up in the air and screaming safe.

Jasper smiled big and took a dramatic bow as she smiled down at Peridot. "Sup runt?"

"Let go of me you clod!" Peridot yelled elbowing the bigger girl, making her laugh "You do this every morning!"

"Not _every_ morning." Jasper said letting her go. "I was on time Friday."

"Yea, two weeks ago!" Peridot yelled fixing her glasses.

Jasper messed with Peridot's hair making her small friend angry. Peridot was a thick glasses wearing nerd. She always had some sort of green shirt on with skinny jeans and ratty old shoes. Her short blond curls lined her forehead above her green eyes. She was a small annoying person but a technology genius. She could fix anything electronic with just the flick of her wrist almost. It was pretty impressive to watch her work but oh so boring at the same time.

"Go sit down before I throw you both out."

"Yes Ms. Agate." Peridot said as her and Jasper made there way to their seats in the back of the room.

As the morning announcements started Malachite leaned over "You guys ready for the big bonfire down at the beach this weekend?"

"Oh yea." Jasper said "I challenged Lapis to a dive off."

"Pfft again?" Sugilite snorted as she turned around placing an arm on Malachite's desk "You never win those. Shes captain of the swim team for a reason ya know."

"I'll win this time." Jasper said hitting her desk in excitement "Someones gotta knock her off her high horse."

"Yea after you fall off yours." Malachite teased as Jasper punched her in the arm "I'm on the swim team and I can't even beat her. What makes you think you can?"

"These baby's right here." Jasper said raising her arms and flexing her muscles "I'm stronger now then last year so that should give me an advantage."

"Rocks always sink, regardless of how big they are." Peridot chimed in. Sugilite and Malachite were in tears as Jasper reached forward and took Peridot's glasses "Hey!"

"You hurt my feelings." Jasper said being fake hurt with a pout on her face "Say sorry."

"Give those back you clod!" Peridot snapped turning around and reaching for her glasses, which Jasper held just out of her reach. "Grr-agh!"

All four of them were being so loud they didn't hear Ms. Agate call them until she snapped her ruler against the white board. They all jumped in their seats, the other students snickering at them, as their eyes looked down.

"Ms. Quartz, the principle wants to see you."

Jasper threw her hands up as her friends laughed at her under there breath "Whaaaat?! I was on time today!"

"Go."

"Uuugh." Jasper moaned out.

The others kept laughing as she grabbed her bag and headed out of class. As she stepped foot out the door she saw Rose doing the same. She had her arms crossed with a frown on her face as they turned and walked towards the office together. Rose huffed a strand of pink hair out of her face before glancing over at her sister. "Why are you in trouble? You made it on time for once."

"I know!" Jasper said throwing her arms out in-front of her as they turned the corner of the hallway. "I didn't even break Perry's glasses this time when I ran in there either!"

"Wow, I'm impressed." Rose said nudging her sister. "The giant can be gentle after all."

"Bite me." Jasper snapped making Rose laugh.

"So how much trouble do you think we're going to be in this time?" Rose asked as they neared the office.

Jasper shrugged as she saw Amethyst leaning against the wall. As they walked up to her they saw there aunts assistant at the front desk. She frowned at them and pointed to the back wall before she went back to addressing the person in-front of her. The sisters followed her instruction and walked the few steps across the hall and joined Amethyst.

"How long have you been standing here Ame?" Rose asked as Jasper glared into the office.

"Since you both left me outside." She said causing them both to smirk.

"Then grow runt." Jasper said ruffling her hair.

Amethyst shoved Jasper's arm making her and Rose laugh. All three of them suddenly jumped and snickered to themselves as the assistant hit the window frowning at them. They kept their eyes down to the floor as they tried to keep their fits of laughter under control.

When Jasper was able to calm herself down she looked back up into the office to notice the thin girl standing at the desk. She was ferociously scribbling in a notebook as the assistant was talking to her and visibly getting annoyed. She kept glancing down at the notebook before talking again getting more and more agitated it seems.

"Man she is really making her mad." Amethyst said as all three of them watched the girl and the assistant go back and forth with what seemed like a one sided conversation.

Eventually the assistant waved the girl off with an annoyed sigh. When the girl went to write in her notebook again the assistant hit her hand on the desk. The girl jumped back, pulling the notebook tight to her chest, as she was told to 'get out'. When the girl turned towards the door Jasper's breath caught in her throat for a moment. She was actually kinda cute. She had short peach colored hair that lined her face and blue eyes that looked like the sky was trapped in them. She was so thin that it looked like she was gliding instead of walking across the floor. She reminded Jasper of a dancer. Her skin was so ivory white that she almost looked like a doll instead of an actual person.

"Hey isn't the Pearl?" Amethyst said leaning towards Rose "The one who has a crush on you?"

When the girl came out of the office they could see that she was crying. She wiped her hands across her eyes as she quickly walked by them. When Rose called her name she acted like she didn't even hear her.

"That's just rude." Jasper commented.

Rose was going to say something but the assistant came out into the hall and cleared her throat. "Yellow Diamond will see you three now."

The sisters begrudgingly walked into the office and then through to the principals. They shut the door behind them as they came fully into the office and sat in the chairs in-front of the big oval desk. Their principal and aunt sat at the desk, an annoyed look on her face.

Yellow Diamond was, according to the students and some of the staff, a tough S.O.B. She commanded the room she was in and tended to dominate the conversations she had. Her sunflower blond hair was short and tight against her head. Her hands were laced together in-front of her mouth as her elbows rested on the desk. Her eyes were slits and the sisters fidgeted in their seat uncomfortably.

"You were late again." She said after a few more moments of string at the trio. "It seems detentions aren't working for you guys anymore so I've arranged for you three to do work around the school instead."

"What?" Amethyst said

"Rose, since you are the student body president I expect more from you. Your punishment will be to help out in the parking lot for students directing traffic."

Rose opened her mouth to speak but Yellows challenging stare made her shut it again.

"Amethyst, your going to help in the library since you need to be supervised at all times." Amethyst huffed at this and crossed her arms before Yellow continued "And Jasper. Since you have sports going on after school, I have decided that after your done your extracurricular activities your going to be cleaning the auditorium for the up coming shows."

"What!" Rose shouted "How is this hardly fair! I'm way to busy to do that!"

"This is bogus!" Amethyst yelled. "I do _NOT_ need a constant babysitter!"

"I was on time today!" Jasper said throwing her hands out at her sides "Why am I getting in trouble?!"

"That's enough!" Yellow commanded slamming her hands down on the desk. The Quartz sister fell silent back into there seats. The amount of pressure coming of Yellow was enough to crack ice in the arctic. When she stood up the girls leaned back in there seats. She circled around to the front of her desk slowly, her eyes locked onto her nieces. "You guys are the Quartz family's legacy. I never could never understand my younger obsession with you three but here she is, leaving me to deal with her unruly trio of misfits."

This made the sisters angry. Their mother Pink Diamond had done some stupid things when she was young. She had the three of them by two different guys and ended up raising them alone. Amethyst and Jasper had the same dad where Rose didn't. Their mother Pink did her best to take care of them. For the longest time Pink's sisters didn't help them or wanted to be around them. It made money tight and things hard but Pink managed well on her own. Her daughters were always loved and taken care of. She went to every event and sport they were in. She was there through all the tough and good times. She loved them all so much which made it hard on the girls when she passed away suddenly last year.

They all took it pretty hard and coped with it in there own ways. Amethyst turned to music with her band to drown her sorrows where Rose threw herself into her school work. Jasper just started working out every chance she got while picking fights with people and ended up getting in a lot of trouble since then. It only took a week for Pink's estranged sisters to come into their life and help them take care of bills and stuff for their home. They tried to help them and be loving aunts to them but the girls didn't except them. They rejected all their help and still do. Their bitter towards them. They knew the only reason they came around at all was because if something happened to the girls, they would be the responsible party.

"Now if your done causing a scene you may go to class-"

Jasper was the first to jump up, cutting Yellow's words short. She grabbed her bag and stormed out of the office with her sisters right behind her. Her hands were shaking as she stormed out of the front office.

"Jasper-"

"She has no right to talk about her like that." Jasper spat cutting Amethyst off. "None of them do."

"I know Jasper." Rose said "But-"

"But nothing!" Jasper yelled stopping and turning on her heals to face her sisters. "They didn't give a flying crap about us til mom died and now suddenly they care?!"

"Don't take this out on us!" Rose said getting in her sisters face.

"Your not the only one who misses her!" Amethyst chimed in crossing her arms.

"Like it or not this is our life now." Rose said with a huff before crossing her arms and pushing past Jasper "We just gotta get through the rest of our high school years then we never have to talk to them again."

Jasper grinded her teeth together as her knuckles turned white. Amethyst wordlessly wrapped her arm around Jasper's as they walked after Rose. It bothered all of them how their aunts talked down about their mother but they kept their mouths shut about it. They knew if they raised a big enough stink about it they would be sent off to some remote boarding school and left there to rot. They didn't want to be separated so they kept their heads down and their hateful feelings to themselves the best they could.

**0**

The rest of the day went by quickly and Jasper found herself trying to kill time in the locker room before having to go do her new punishment of cleaning.

"You down for going to the arcade?" Sugalite asked as she got changed back into her normal cloths. "Our band should be over today."

"Nah I gotta go do my new punishment." Jasper said with a frown on her face as she waited for her.

"Aww man, what is it this time?"

"Cleaning the damn auditorium."

Sugalite laughed as the locker room door flew open. Malachite's head popped in with an annoyed look on her face.

"Who pissed in your cheerios?" Sugalite asked as she came up next to Jasper.

"You guys seen Lapis?" Malachite asked looking around.

"Why, trying to get in her pants?" Jasper teased making Sugalite snort.

"Get bent." Malachite snapped in frustration "Ugh, the coach is looking for her and I cant find her anywhere."

"Try under the bleachers." Sugalite said as Jasper rolled her eyes and headed for the door. "She usually smokes under there."

"Where you off too?" Malachite asked as Jasper nudged by her and into the hallway.

"Her new love for musical theater." Sugalite sneered.

Jasper flipped her off as they both laughed at her. "Bite me."

Jasper trudged her way slowly towards the far end of the school. Their high-school was shaped like a giant letter 'T'. All the classes were in the "T' shape itself where the offices, auditorium & lunch room were at the top. The two gyms, the swimming pool, and locker room were at the bottom. It was only 2 floors for all the classrooms so it wasn't so much a big school as it was long.

When Jasper reached the auditorium she found the main doors locked shut. She groaned as she turned and walked a short distance to the small hallway that rapped around to the auditoriums side door. As Jasper turned down the narrow hallway she could hear music coming from inside.

_"It all became so lovely. Those blue sky's above me."_

"Who the hell is still here this late?" She mumbled to no-one as she walked down towards the side door that was ajar. As she got closer she could hear that it was a piano that was being played. She could also hear someone singing.

" _Those funny feelings I had never felt before I met you."_

As Jasper reached the door she walked inside slowly. The piano hummed in the air gently along with the voice singing along. Walking to the edge of the curtain she could see Lapis Lazuli at the grand piano on stage. She was facing away from it, sitting on the bench, and leaning back as she sang along to the melody coming from it. She was all dressed for swim practice but looked like she wanted to be here more.

_"Maby I'll find my self smiling on that distant shore. Maby I'm not alone."_

Lapis had her eyes closed so she didn't see Jasper standing there smirking at her until Jasper coughed out a chuckle. "Aww I didn't know you liked to sing."

"Jasper!" Lapis said jumping a foot in the air in surprise "What are you doing here?"

"Gotta serve my jail sentence." Jasper joked "What are you doing in here?"

"That's none on your business." Lapis snapped making Jasper smile and cross her arms at her flustered look.

"Well its your coaches business." Jasper said "Their looking for you. Something about getting kicked off the team or making Mal captain?"

Jasper couldn't help but laugh at Lapis's surprised face for a moment before she realized the giant was messing with her.

"That's not funny." Lapis said crossing her arms.

"No, but they are looking for you."

Lapis rolled her eyes before turning the the person next to her, who Jasper didn't even notice til now. The person, who she recognized as the girl named Pearl from this morning, was still playing the piano like Lapis never stopped singing along. She didn't stop playing until Lapis reached out and took her hand. Lapis smiled at Pearl as she raised their hands and held them to her throat which caused Jasper to give her a funny look.

"I'll see you later." Lapis said before letting Pearl's hand go.

As Lapis gathered her stuff from the floor Pearl went back to playing the piano. Lapis moved slow as she walked away from Pearl and towards Jasper. When she glided by she shot a frown up at the giant. "You better leave her alone."

Jasper rolled her eyes as Lapis disappeared behind the curtains. Jasper then turned her attention back to Pearl. She watched as Pearl went from finishing the song she was playing with Lapis to a new melody. Jasper became awestruck at her playing that she unconsciously walked right up behind Pearl and watched her. Pearl's fingers glided over the keys so smoothly without effort, like it was second nature to her. The melody itself was quite nice actually. It was gentle but powerful at the same time. It made Jasper sad when Pearl suddenly stopped play after hitting a strange note that didn't sound natural with the rhythm of the song. When Pearl reached for a pencil in-front of her she suddenly noticed Jasper standing there. Her sudden jump made Jasper take a step back and put her hands up as the pencil flew out of her hand.

"I'm sorry!" Jasper said "I didn't mean to scare you."

Pearl just looked at her with wide eyes and grab her shirt like she was having a heart-attack. Jasper couldn't help but roll her eyes at her over reaction to her standing right there. Pearl took a few deep breaths as Jasper felt her pencil hit her foot. She looked down and bent to pick it up as Pearl turned back to the piano slowly.

"You play really nice." Jasper said as she stood upright.

When she didn't get a response she frowned. She realized Pearl wasn't even looking at her anymore. She was looking back at the paper in-front of her, tying to pretend Jasper wasn't right there talking to her. Jasper went to say something about her acting stuck up but then saw that Pearl didn't answer her because she had headphones on. Those old kinda ones that sit on your head like a gaming headset. It striked Jasper as weird as she came and stood right next to Pearl. Who would wear headphones while playing the piano? It seemed kinda counter-intuitive. She didn't see the point. Why bother wearing those if you can't hear yourself play?

Jasper's frowned deepened as she saw Pearl twitch uncomfortably next to her. Jasper thought about what to say when she saw a notebook opened on top on the piano. It was scribbled with what looked like a one sided conversation. The giant thought it over in her head for a moment before leaning forward and writing in the notebook.

'Sorry I scared you'

When she finished she saw Pearl blink a bit in surprise. She looked up at Jasper for a moment before reading what she wrote. She still remained silent and it made Jasper shift her weight uncomfortably before writing something else down.

'you play pretty good'

Jasper put the pencil down on the paper and leaned away from Pearl, which made her seem to relax a bit. Pearl read what she wrote and took a small breath. She picked up the pencil slowly and paused for a moment before writing something. As Jasper leaned down to read it Pearl put the pencil down again.

'Thank you'

Pearl's hand writing was very elegant. Her words were as smooth as her piano playing. The way the letters swirled and looped on the page made Jasper think of the old fashion hand writing from forever ago. Jasper looked at the paper for a moment before picking up the pencil again.

'what were you playing? The song Lapis was singing too, I could hear it from down the hall'

'It's called Distant Shore. I wrote it for her'

'can you play something else?' Jasper went to lean away before adding something else 'Id like to hear more, if you don't care bout me listening.'

Jasper put the pencil down and waited for Pearl's response. As Pearl read Jasper's question she made a face. She looked uncomfortable with the idea of having an audience and it made Jasper frown again. Maybe she thought Jasper was intimidating. Then again most kids did. Being six foot six with vitiligo all over your face and body didn't exactly help Jasper fit in and make friends. Pearl was probably afraid of her like everyone else was and it made Jasper a bit mad. She wasn't THAT scary. Jasper grumbled a bit and was about to walk away when Pearl wrote her response in the notebook.

'sure'

Jasper smiled at her as Pearl wrote something else. 'any requests?'

Pearl looked up as Jasper shook her head no. Pearl nodded and turned back to the piano the same time Jasper put her bag on the floor. She sat down and leaned against the leg of the piano as Pearl started to play. The song lulled Jasper to close her eyes as it flowed from Pearl's fingers. It started a little dark and soft before picking up to a happy beat. As the music flowed through Jasper's ears she couldn't help but smile. It made her happy, which was silly to her. Her type of music was heavy metal and rock music where as this was more up beat and gentle. Kinda like it was meant for a fancy party background. She listened as Pearl glided and filled the room with the songs melody. Jasper could imagine a room full of people all dressed up for some boring party. When the song went dark Jasper's eyebrow twitched for a moment before it picked back up with a lot of energy.

When the song ended Jasper opened her eyes and smiled at Pearl. When she gave her a thumbs up, Pearl's cheeks turned a bit red making Jasper chuckle a bit. It looked like Pearl didn't get a lot of good feed back from her playing from her reaction just now. Jasper reached up and grabbed the notebook and pencil to write a repose to Pearl. As she pulled it down she saw Pearl go to grab something that was falling but missed. Jasper was quick and caught the object before it hit the ground. In her hand was a little black box that looked like a tape recorder, kinda like what Peridot has.

"Here." Jasper said offering it to Pearl. Jasper noticed, as Pearl took it from her hand silently, that it was attached to her headphones. Jasper raised her eyebrow questionably as Pearl turned away looking embarrassed. Jasper thought about it for a moment before returning to her original thought. She wrote in the notebook then handed it to Pearl.

'that sounded good. What was that?'

Pearl shuffled on the bench a bit as she responded. 'Its called Lets Only Think About Love. I wrote it for a competition a few years ago.'

'You do competitions? That's cool. You ever win any?'

'A few'

Jasper was going to write down her question about the black box but her phone buzzing in her pocket distracted her. She put the notebook on her knee, balancing the pencil on top, as she fished her phone out of her pocket.

"Yo." She said answering it with a smile. "Whats up bubblegum?"

"Where are you?" Rose asked from the other end with an annoyed sigh.

"Cleaning the stage." Jasper answered.

"Liar." Rose said.

"Yea I didn't do jack." Jasper said smiling.

"Well lets get going. Their about to lock the school up and I don't wanna walk home. Its almost 6" Rose responded.

"Ah crap." Jasper said jumping to her feet. "I'm coming."

She could hear Peridot yelling in the background as she rolled her eyes and wrote something down for Pearl. "tell that shrimp I'm coming and do not blow a fuse."

"Ok." Rose said.

As Jasper hung up the phone she could hear Peridot yelling more in the background at her. She just rolled her eyes again as she handed the notebook to Pearl before bending down to pick up her stuff.

'Their about to close the school for the day'

"You need a ride home?" Jasper asked.

As she stood upright she saw Pearl scrambling to get her things together. She watched her throw her stuff into her bag on the floor. She silently put her headphones and the black box into the bag as well before swinging her feet over the bench and jumping up. She gave Jasper no answer as she picked up her bag, wobbling a bit from the weight, and took off behind stage. Jasper followed behind her with a frown on her face. This was the second time she ignored her and not said a thing. She didn't realize how stuck up she was. Arrogant little brat.

**0**

As Jasper walked through the parking lot towards her truck she could she her sisters and Peridot waiting for her. Peridot was yelling at Amethyst about something as Amethyst lounged on the roll cage bar on the roof. Rose was looking at her phone with a smile and waving off whatever Peridot was yelling about. As Jasper got closer Amethyst reached down and stole Rose's phone from her hands.

"Give that back!" Rose snapped. She tried jumping for it but Amethyst held it up over her head while reading it.

"Oooooh who's Greg?" She teased ad Roses face turned red.

"No-one!" She said climbing up onto the side step trying to get her phone back. Amethyst leaned away from her with a smirk on her face "Give it back Ame!"

"Ew someone actually wants you?" Jasper said as she pulled her keys out of her pocket "Poor guy must be desperate."

Amethyst laughed as Rose frowned. "Shut up you big brute."

"Least someone is interested in her." Peridot said crossing her arms and leaning on the truck "That's better then what you have going on. No-one wants to bark up your romantic tree there big guy."

Amethyst fell back into the truck as she laughed, tossing Roses phone over the other side of the truck. "Amethyst!" Rose shouted jumping down and going to retrieve her phone.

Jasper frowned and flicked Peridot on the nose, prompting her to call her a clod as her glasses slid down her face. Jasper rolled her eyes and unlocked the truck. As they all climbed in Peridot made a disgusted noise making Jasper roll her eyes.

"Your truck is disgusting!" She snapped from the back seat as they closed their doors.

"Its not that bad." Amethyst said as they put their seat-belts on.

"Its revolting!' Peridot shrieked as Jasper started her truck. "When was the last time you guys actually cleaned in here!"

The sisters paused at the question, giving it some thought as the radio roared to life at full volume. After a few minutes Rose pipped up "The last time we went to the beach."

"That was over a year ago!"

"If you don't like it you can always walk home.." Jasper said glaring at her threw the rear view mirror. Peridot shrunk back in her seat after shaking her head no. Jasper smirked as she threw the car into drive and did a donut in the parking lot before racing out onto the street.

"Who wants to see if I can beat my record time to Peri's house!" She yelled.

Rose and Amethyst both yelled in excitement and Peridot in terror as Jasper hit the gas, flooring her truck down the street. They all laughed more at Peridot's terrified yelling as the truck raced away from there school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

By the time the girls made it home it was dark out. They rolled into the driveway loudly blasting music and joking about Peridot's loud crying at Jasper's driving. As Jasper killed the engine they saw that there living room light was on. Jasper frowned as she opened her door and her sisters saw what she saw.

"Great. What is _she_ doing here?" Amethyst mumbled.

The girls saw a white Lincoln sitting next to the curb, making them all a little uneasy. They all stood there for a moment until Jasper moved. She grabbed her bag and slammed the driver's side door shut rather hard. Her sisters followed suit and came up to stand on either side of Jasper.

"Let's get this over with." She grumbled as Rose walked next her confidently trying to match her sour expression while Amethyst trailed behind them a bit, staying close enough to reach out and touch their arms if needed.

They slowly walked up the driveway and to their front door. They could hear a radio playing that they all didn't like touching, as it belonged to their mother Pink. As Rose pulled out her keys Jasper put her hand up. They knew who was in there house and they knew they left the door unlocked for the sisters when they came home. Jasper took a deep breath before opening the door and confidently walking in, pushing down her feelings and anger and discomfort in her brain. Rose and Amethyst were right on her heals as they strolled through the door and into their living room.

Their house was a decent size. 4 bedrooms, 1 bathroom (upstairs), a small living room on the left of the front door with a kitchen beyond that. There was the garage to the right of the door with the dining room behind that, connecting to the kitchen via a small hallway connecting the front and back doors. They had a basement they hardly used and huge backyard. The house was a bit chaotic, having three teenagers roaming around unsupervised inside, but it was ok enough not to be considered horrible conditions, just messy.

Jasper stopped a few steps into the living room as she was suddenly hugged. Her eye twitched in annoyance at the hug from her overly emotional aunt Blue Diamond. Jasper wasn't particularly fond of people hugging her that she didn't really know. She was going to do something rash when she felt Amethyst grab her hand for a second and squeeze, reminding her to remain calm. Jasper bit the inside of her cheek rather hard as Blue held her longer then she would of liked before pulling away and smiling.

"Its so good to see you Jasper!" She said wiping a tear from her eye causing Jasper to bite the inside of her cheek harder, forcing her skin to break and fill her mouth with a metallic taste. "We missed you last time we were here."

"You know, I have a lot of sports to do." Jasper said giving the best fake smile she could.

Blue smiled ready to hug Jasper again but there was a clearing of someones throat behind her. Jasper felt her fingers go cold. As Blue stepped aside to hug Rose and Amethyst (with a muffled groan) Jasper came under the scrutinizing stare of her aunt White Diamond. White was different from her sister Yellow and Blue. Where Yellow was stern and Blue was emotional, White was... calm. She was always smiling and just acting like nothing was wrong, _ever_. She made the girls, especially Jasper, uncomfortable. She always had a way of reading Jasper and getting under her skin in such a way where it made Jasper seem like she was loosing her crap over nothing at all when she would snap at her. Rose and Amethyst had had that happen to them too but they saw how their older sister was a target most times. They did their best to try and not have it happen but White was persistent.

"Girls!" White said with a fake smile on her face "There you are!"

"Hi aunt White." Rose said coming up to Jasper's side and then standing slightly in-front of her "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Hello Starlight." White said reaching over and turning their mothers radio off before standing. She walked over casually and stopped right in-front of the sisters. Rose gave her a hug as Jasper leaned back on her heals and looked away uncomfortably. Rose always had a way of talking to their aunts in such a polite manner that Amethyst and Jasper just couldn't quite copy.

"We wanted to stop by and let you know we have the bills paid for this month for you all." White said "We figured we would tell you in person, since we were on our way to go see Yellow."

"It is nice of you to stop by for a visit but..." Rose said folding her hands behind her back with a smile. "We have a lot of homework and stuff to do. You understand."

Jasper kept her eyes on the floor as she saw Blue hugging the crap out of Amethyst who was rolling her eyes so hard they looked like they were gonna get stuck in the back of her head. Rose was holding her one wrist so tight her nails were digging into her skin. Jasper herself could taste her own blood in her mouth more as she realized she was still biting her cheek rather hard.

"Of course." White said after a moment. She glided past the trio of misfits soundlessly as her and Blue went for the front door. "Will be back around next week to spend some family time together. Will let you know when."

She glided out the door as Blue waved them goodbye. The girls put on their best smiles and waves. As soon as the door clicked shut they didn't move until they saw White's car pull off from the curb out front.

"UGH I need a shower." Rose said turning and going off to the bathroom.

"Time to burn this shirt." Amethyst grumbled as her and Jasper both walked off to do their own thing.

The night dragged on as the girls haphazardly did their homework and settled in to do what they wanted. Jasper was busy playing a shooting game on line with Peridot when Amethyst wondered into her room. Jasper was sitting on the floor, legs crossed in front of her, with a energy drink next to her. Both wearing nothing more then t-shirts and baggy shorts.

"I need cover fire!" Jasper snapped as Amethyst jumped up onto her bed to watch.

"I'm trying!" Peridot yelled over the headset.

Amethyst reached down and took the energy drink making Jasper look at her for a moment. Her momentary distraction got her shot and Amethyst laughed hard.

"Aww man." Amethyst wheezed earning a flick in the forehead from Jasper.

"Dammit Peri! If your gonna camp at-least cover me!" Jasper snapped.

"What do you think snipers do you clod!"

"Well do it better!"

"You ran behind a tree you pebble! I cant fire through a tree!" Peridot snapped.

Jasper rolled her eyes as she leaned forward and grabbed a second controller, tossing it to Amethyst. As Amethyst set up her controller and then Jasper's spare headset (from under the bed somewhere) they jumped into a new game and Peridot groaned.

"Sup Perry." Amethyst said as Jasper snatched her energy drink back before her sister could chug it all.

"So who's team are we facing?" Peridot asked.

"Some random ones for death match." Jasper said finishing off the energy drink in one swing. She crushed the can then threw it over to her trashcan. It missed and she just rolled her eyes. "Its a three team vs three team match. We need another player so their gonna stick us with some random."

"Lets hope they don't get us killed." Amethyst said "Perry's all ready got that covered."

They both laughed as Peridot yelled over the headset at them. After some random person got stuck on their team their match began. They played for a few hours until Peridot let out a yawn.

"Yea, good call there Perry." Amethyst said as Jasper yawned turning her headset off "Will see you tomorrow."

Both girls tossed the game consoles stuff aside as got off the floor and they hear the shower start. They both stifled a laugh as Rose yelled about the hair-dye again, forgetting it was in her shampoo bottle. Jasper reached forward and turned her console off as Amethyst stretched.

"So what did you do instead of cleaning?" Amethyst asked.

Jasper paused for a moment before answering "I was listening to that Pearl chick play the piano."

Amethyst gave her a funny look before shrugging "I didn't think she still played."

Jasper went to ask Amethyst what she meant but a sudden sound of something falling over made both sisters fall silent. They looked at each other funny before walking over and opening Jasper's door. As the shower was running they looked at the bathroom door before looking at each other.

"Didn't she already get a shower?" Amethyst said in a hushed voice.

Jasper opened her mouth to answer but another shuffle and a bump made her snap her mouth shut. They both looked to Rose's door before Jasper took a step back into her room. She reached behind her door and grabbed the baseball bat she kept there. She used this bat for sports, when she did softball, and now uses it as a mean to beat the hell out of anyone breaking into their house. She's only had to use it twice for a break in and she felt this might make number three.

As she took a few steps over to Rose's door Amethyst took a few steps down to her room and came back out with a tire iron. Jasper looked at her funny and Amethyst just shrugged.

"It's all I have." Amethyst hissed coming up to Jasper's side. "Sports aren't my thing, remember?"

Jasper turned her attention back to Rose's door after rolling her eyes. She grabbed the doorknob, slowly turning it, before throwing the door open. As the door banged against the wall they spotted a dark figure standing near the window. As the shower shut off Jasper took a step in a swung the bat, knocking the figure in the head as they tried to duck out of the way.

"Get them!" Amethyst yelled from behind Jasper as the bathroom door swung open. "Hey!"

"Jasper! Get off him!" Rose Shouted.

Jasper had reach forward and grabbed the figure by the shirt, about to hit him again, when Rose's wet hands grabbed her arm. When Amethyst clicked the light on Jasper could see it was a guy she had by the shirt. She frowned at him as Rose yanked on her arm again. "Drop him!"

Jasper shoved him away, making the guy fall on his butt. Rose pushed past her and helped the guy off the floor before turning and yelling at her sister. "What the hell is you problem?!"

"What did you expect?!" Jasper yelled back gripping the bat tight in her hand before resting it on her shoulder "You were in the shower and we hear banging from your room." She looked to the guy "Your lucky she just saved you a trip to the E.R."

"Who is that?" Amethyst asked still holding the crowbar like she was gonna swing it. "Why is he in here?"

"This is Greg... my boyfriend." Rose said looking at her feet awkwardly before smiling at her sisters. "We were... Doesn't matter. J-"

"Doesn't matter?" Jasper snapped. She looked between Rose and Greg for a moment before it clicked in her head. "What the hell Rose!"

"Oh back off Jasper! I'm an adult, I can do what I want!"

"Your not an adult for another six months."

"Do you think you can boss me around just cause your the oldest?!" Rose yelled "Your not mom!"

Jasper's body froze at her words "So stop acting like you are!"

"Rose!" Amethyst yelled.

Jasper stood there frozen with a frown on her face as Rose came down from her shouting and realized what she had said. She took a step towards her sister but got a flash of teeth instead, stopping her in her tracks.

Jasper hated being compared to their mom. She was a trouble maker, a fight starter. She was a bad influence and nothing like their mom. She honestly felt lost without her around and Rose screaming at her about their mother didn't help either. It just filled Jasper with rage.

Jasper took the bat of her shoulder and pointed it right at Greg's face.

"Get out." She hissed through her teeth at him.

He nodded ferociously as Jasper turned and stormed out of the room. Amethyst grabbed her arm but Jasper yanked it back, shoving her sister away. She went across the hall to her room and slammed the door so hard that it shook the whole house. She could hear Amethyst yelling at Rose as she stood there in the dark. She could feel the bat groan under her tight grip on it. In one motion she brought the bat up and slammed it into the closet door. Over and over she swung the bat until it splintered apart in her hands. She was so angry, so hurt, that she dropped the remains of the bat on the floor and sent her fist through the remains of the closet door. It was safe to say she didn't get much sleep that night.

**0**

The ride to school the next morning was quiet, cept for the radio. Rose tried to apologize to Jasper but she was told to shut her face or walk the rest of the way to school. Most of the day Jasper wasn't really there. She didn't pay attention in any of her classes and was barely there for her volleyball practice. By the time she made it to the auditorium she paid Lapis no mind as she made a snarky comment on her way out to swim practice.

Pearl was playing the piano once again as Jasper dropped her bag next to hers and plopped down on the floor. Like before, Pearl jumped at Jasper's sudden appearance but this time Jasper didn't apologize. She just closed her eyes as she leaned against the piano. Jasper grinded her teeth and felt her hands ball into fists as she rested her arms on her bent knees. She was trying hard not to get mad about last night but it wasn't working too well. When her and Rose would fight, they would fight. Last time they did the neighbors almost called the cops because of how much stuff they heard the sisters throwing(and breaking) at each other on-top of all the screaming and yelling. It sounded like a death match going on with poor Amethyst yelling over both of them to shut up.

Jasper felt a small hand on her arm suddenly and opened her eyes. She turned her head and jumped a bit. Pearl was leaning over the bench and was closer then Jasper thought she would get to her. She felt her face turn a little red as she looked at Pearl. She really was cute. She could see the blue of her eyes and it was like looking up into the sky. Her peach colored hair was short but just long enough to tuck behind her ears slightly. Her slender frame was beautiful and fit her looks nicely. Her hand was cool on Jasper's arm, making her face turn a bit redder. Pearl smelled very nice, like lavender. It was a bit intoxicating to the giant. Her house consisted of the smell of roses, ax, and bleach (for the messes they made). The Lavender smell was a nice change.

It took Jasper a few blinks to see that Pearl was holding out her notebook to her. Jasper took the notebook and leaned away from Pearl's cute face.

'Are you ok? You look upset.'

Jasper scribbled her response quickly and handed the notebook back.

'Got in a fight with my sister last night. Didn't really sleep.'

'Did you wanna talk about it?'

Jasper just handed the notebook back to Pearl without an answer. She moved to lay her arm on the bench and then her head on top. She sighed annoyed and bent her arm up to cover her eyes. She stayed like that until she felt small fingers on her face. Jasper went stiff as she felt Pearl brush a piece of her hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear. Her fingers lingered on her skin longer then they should have and Jasper was happy that her arm was covering the red that burned across her cheeks. After a few moments music started to fill the room. It was gentle and before she knew it, Jasper had relaxed enough against the bench that she started to doze off.

Jasper hadn't realized how tired she was. She spend most of the night beating the hell out of the closet door in her room. She only got maybe three hours of sleep. Only good thing about not sleeping too much was that all three of them made it on time today. As the music flowed from Pearl's fingertips and filled the room Jasper faded in and out of sleep. She was only stirred back into consciousness when she would occasionally hear Pearl switch songs after a few moments of pause.

Jasper was suddenly woken when she realized that Pearl had stopped playing. She sat up and rubbed her eyes to see she was alone on stage. Jasper frowned as she gathered her stuff slowly. She noticed that she had been laying on Pearl's note book. She rolled her eyes and picked it up before making her way out of the auditorium. She grumbled to herself as she walked.

 _That was rude_ , Jasper thought as her sour mood came back, _She could of woken me up at least instead of leaving me there. stuck up peace of s-_

Her thought was cut short as she rounded the corner to head to the student parking lot. Down the far end of the hall, towards the gyms, she saw Sugalite and Malachite with Pearl. As Jasper got closer she could see them throwing something over Pearl's head back and forth. It made her smirk, feeling like it was payback for Pearl leaving her behind. When she was a few feet away she could see that Pearl was on the verge of tears as she tried to get back whatever Malachite and Sugalite had taken from her. At the far end of the hall she saw Lapis and Peridot round the corner. When they saw what was going on Lapis took off at them, dropping her stuff as Peridot yelled at her.

"Whats wrong Pearl?" Malachite teased as she tossed what was in her hand to Sugalite. "Speak up."

"If you want them back you gotta tell us." Sugalite cackled catching what was thrown to her before suddenly seeing Jasper and chucking what she had "Hey Jas, catch!"

With a flash of movement and a growl Jasper caught what was thrown to her and she crushed it in her hand "What the hell are you throwing shit at me for!"

Their faces were painted in surprise as Pearl's was frozen in shock. Lapis at this point had reached the group and clocked Malachite in the jaw, knocking her off balance. Sugalite jumped at this and picked Malachite off the ground and ran away with her as Lapis came over and hugged Pearl. She picked up Pearl's hand and held it to her throat again and spoke to her but Pearl wasn't paying attention. She pulled herself away from Lapis and came right over to Jasper. She had fire in her eyes as Jasper looked down at her.

"What?" Jasper asked annoyed.

Pearl didn't respond with words. She brought her hand up and slapped Jasper across the face hard. Jasper growled in response and took a step forward to scream in Pearl's face when Lapis and Peridot appeared between them.

"Jasper no." Peridot said putting her hands on Jasper's abs and pushing.

"What is your problem!" Laspis yelled yanking Pearl's notebook out of Jasper's hand before grabbing her closed fist "Why would you break them you big bully?!"

"Break what? These?" Jasper growled opening her closed fist. In the palm of her hand were what looked like crushed headphones. They were both broken in half and buzzing slightly in her hand. "There just headphones."

"Are you that stupid!" Lapis yelled yanking them out of Jasper's hand "Their hearing aids you moron!"

"Hearing aids?" Jasper looked at Lapis a bit confused. "The hell she need these for?"

"You dumb pebble!" Peridot snapped as Lapis turned away and went over to Pearl, who was crying. "Pearl needs those because shes deaf! She can't hear anything!"

After the words left Peridot's mouth it took a few moments before it all suddenly clicked in Jasper's head as she saw the tears in Pearl's eyes. All the silence between them. All the awkward stares and glances at Jasper when she would talk to Pearl. Pearl never answering any questions Jasper asked her. Only paying attention when Jasper would write in her notebook. The way Pearl never paid any mind to the comments people would say about her. The way she would ignore everything around her until it came into her line of sight.

In this moment, Jasper felt like the biggest dick on the planet.

Japser took a breath to say something but Peridot cut her off "Don't. She wouldn't be able to hear you anyway."

Jasper looked at Pearl as Lapis was wiping away her tears. Lapis held Pearl's hand to her throat and spoke soft words that Pearl would shake her head too. After a few moments Lapis let Pearl go and picked up Pearl's bag from the floor, throwing it over her shoulder. As both girls turned to face them, Pearl looked at Peridot. She suddenly brought her hands up and started doing funny motions with them. Jasper squinted at Peridot as she did some funny hand motions in return. Pearl looked to Jasper then and did a few at her before taking Lapi's hand and storming off down the hallway. As they walked away Lapis wrapped her arm around Pearl's waist, pulling her tight to her side.

"What the hell was that?" Jasper asked as Peridot turned to lookup at her before walking off.

"To make it short and to the point, you messed up and you messed up big. Don't bother her anymore. You caused enough trouble."

**0**

The next day at school Jasper was barely paying attention again. She just glided through her day, ignoring everyone and kicking herself about what happened with Pearl. She had learned the Sugalite and Malachite had come to bother her when she was "cleaning" but when they saw she was a sleep they decided to pick on Pearl... by stealing her stuff. That made Jasper angry. She ended up beating the hell out of them both in the locker room after school and dragging them through the halls to the auditorium. When they turned into the small hallway, Jasper saw Lapis and Pearl a few feet from the side door to the stage.

Both thin girls turned around in surprise as Jasper dragged Malichite and Sugalite over to them, both of them complaining loudly the whole time.

"What are you doing?" Lapis snapped as she moved Pearl behind her a bit. "I thought we told you to get bent."

Jasper ignored her and stopped a few feet from them. She swiftly kicked both her friends in the knees, dropping them to the floor and grabbing them both by the hair. She yanked both their heads back before forcing their heads down. "Apologize. Now."

"Why should we?" Sugalite snapped "You ain't nothin right now."

Jasper leaned down, yanking their heads close to hers as she growled steel at them. "You know what will happen if you don't?"

Malichite spit on the floor and Jasper chucked darkly "I'll personally tie cinder blocks to your ankles and time how fast you sink after I throw you off of Dead Man's Mouth. That's _if_ you survive the joyride around town tied to the bumper of my truck, by your hair."

Both girls eyes widened in terror as Jasper pushed their head back down. They were already covered in bruises from their beat-down in the locker room and they knew Jasper went easy on them too. She was testing them, to see if they really wanted to go through hell. They practically yelled out their apology, starting to cry a bit. After a few minutes of their groveling Jasper yanked them both up to their feet. She turned and practically threw them back up the hall.

They ran off after throwing insults at Jasper before disappearing around the corner, leaving the three remaining girls there as Jasper shouted after them "Touch her again I'll shatter you both myself!"

Jasper shoved her hands deep in her pockets as she watched them go before looking back over her shoulder for a moment. She only managed to Look at Lapis before the guilt hit her again, forcing her eyes to the floor.

"Tell her I'm sorry." Jasper said as she started walking away. "I wont bother her anymore."

When Jasper made it out to the parking lot she saw only one sister waiting for her. She gave Amethyst a look and her sister shrugged in response as she lounged on top of the trucks roll cage like usual.

"Greg picked Rose up bout twenty minutes ago for some date and Periwinkle is staying late for some project."

Jasper just grunted in response as she unlocked her truck. Amethyst jumped down into the passenger seat as Jasper tossed her back into the back. After she climbed in and shut the door Amethyst grabbed her hand.

"I herd what happened yesterday." Amethyst said making Jasper frown. When she didn't say anything to Amethyst's words she continued "I also heard how you made those two apologize. It was pretty epic to hear. Heard from Lapis that Pearl was blah blah blah-"

Jasper rolled her eyes as she brought the truck to life while her sister droned on next to her. They both buckled their seat-belts as the radio roared to life. Amethyst was saying something else but Jasper wasn't paying attention anymore. She was gripping the steering wheel tight. She knew that tomorrow she was going to be in a lot of trouble. Yellow Diamond always watched the cameras after school so she probably already knew what Jasper had done to Sugalite and Malachite. She wouldn't be in that much trouble from that but because she broke Pearl's hearing aids by mistake she knew she was beyond doomed. She really didn't want to be here tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

That night Jasper spent a bit of time on her computer looking at random things before sighing in frustration. She leaned back in her chair as she pulled out her phone and texted Peridot.

J: Yo P you up? I got a question

P: What is it Jasper?

J: What was that hand thing you were doing with Pearl?

P: Are you asking about sign language?

J: That's what its called? What is it exactly?

P: Its how people who can't hear talk to each other.

J: It looks like your just throwing up gang signs and flailing around.

P: Seriously?

P: Why the sudden interest?

P: Jas?

Jasper had tossed her phone aside and pulled up a new browser. If she couldn't tell Pearl she was sorry, least she could try and show her right?

Rolling up to school the next morning (late like usual) Jasper didn't bother running. She just took her time as her sisters took off. They glanced at her for a moment before continuing their sprint. Jasper took her time walking inside and didn't bother going to homeroom. She just planted herself on the wall outside the office. She knew she was going to get called down so she just decided to save everyone some time.

She knew she was going to get screamed at. She knew it... She wanted it... She _needed_ it... She needed someone to yell at her and make her feel worthless. To tell her she was just another trouble maker that was no good. She needed the screaming to make her feel alive. It was the only way she felt anything anymore since her mom died.

Jasper was studying her boots, her hair hiding her face, as she herd the office door open. When it closed again in silence Jasper didn't bother looking up. She took a deep breath and waited for a voice to start yelling at her when a small pair of flats appeared in-front of her. Jasper looked up through her hair slowly, taking in a blue sun flowery dress, arms wrapped around a red notebook, and a timid Pearl looking right at her.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise as Pearl gave her a small smile. She looked at her hands, fidgeting nervously, for a moment before meeting Jasper's eyes again. She then opened her notebook and handed it to Jasper. Jasper took it slowly from her, feeling her eyes on her face as she read her elegant writing.

'I am still _very_ mad for what you did to my hearing aids _but_ in the same notion... I forgive and thank you. That is the first time that someone who had broken them had actually apologized to me... It was also kinda funny watching those two brutes run off crying after you made them apologize. Lapis told me after you all left what you and them had said.

The principal called me into the office when I got here this morning and I explained everything to her. You are not in trouble for now _but_ you are officially my escort in the auditorium and around school, since you have not been cleaning and I technically need someone with me because of my disability.'

Jasper looked up at Pearl in shock as she smiled up at her. She actually didn't hate her. She was mad yes but Jasper was gonna take it. Jasper handed the notebook back. As Pearl pulled out a pencil to write something else Jasper reached out and put her hands on top of Pearl's for a moment. Pearl paused and looked at her as Jasper took her hands back. Her face turned a bit red as she took a breath.

'I'm sorry' Jasper signed slowly, trying not to mess up as she stared at her hands 'For barking your hearing phones'

A sudden laugh made Jasper jump a bit in her skin. She looked up to see Pearl covering her mouth and laughing. Her voice actually worked. It was high and sounded like wind chimes but it was there and... it sounded beautiful to the giant. Jasper felt her heart beat a little faster as she watched the slim girl in-front of her laugh. Jasper had practiced her apology for a few hours the night before and for a while this morning before leaving, trying not to mess it up but by the sound of Pearl's laugh, she did just that.

Pearl turned her notebook over, scribbling her words down quickly before turning it around for Jasper to read.

'You messed up but I understand what you meant to say'

Jasper smiled at Pearl as Pearl tucked her notebook under her arm. She put her pencil behind her ear before moving her hands. She signed something to Jasper and she knew what she said.

'Thank you' Pearl had signed with a smile.

Jasper smiled back and couldn't help herself.

"Thank **GOD**." Jasper breathed as she stepped forward and gave Pearl an overly tight hug. Jasper was just happy Pearl didn't hate her. She was worried about making it up to her and having to "clean" around her. When Jasper let Pearl go after a few seconds, both there faces were a bit red in surprise at Jasper's sudden hug. They both coughed and looked away from each other. Jasper didn't mean to hug Pearl suddenly. She was just so happy she wasn't gong to be scrubbing the school toilets as punishment or have to do something else equally as horrible. After a moment the bell rang and Jasper jump.

"Ah crap, I'm late!" Jasper said taking off. She stopped a few steps away from Pearl and turned back. She ran to her, scribbled something in Pearl's notebook, before turning and taking off again.

'See you after school'

**0**

"That hook of your's really hurts." Malachite said as her, Jasper and Sugalite were changing there cloths back from there sports. "You didn't have to hit us so hard."

"I didn't." Jasper said with dark smile "I could hit you hard if you want."

Malachite's face dropped as she shook her head no while Sugalite put her face into her locker. Jasper chuckled at there un-comfortableness as she shut her gym locker and put her bag over her shoulder. She then peaced out from them and headed out the door.

As she left the locker room she saw that Pearl was waiting for her. She was leaning on the wall, facing the door, with her nose in a book. Jasper raised her eyebrow in surprise as she took the few steps across the hall over to her. Pearl didn't realize Jasper was their until she stopped right in-front of her. Pearl jumped a bit then looked up at Jasper and gave her a smile. She closed her book and leaned down to put it away as the locker room door opened behind them.

"Aww look your favorite disabled person is waiting for you." Sugalite sneered. "Getting ready to break something else?"

Jasper glanced over he shoulder at her two friends and gave them a menacing look. They went from snickering to silent in an instant. They both looked at each other then back to Jasper before sneering at her. As they walked away Lapis came out of the locker room and frowned when she saw Jasper standing with Pearl. Lapis scowled at Jasper as she came over and deliberately stood between them.

Pearl looked up and smiled at Lapis as Lapis took Pearl's notebook from her hand and scribbled something into it. As Pearl read what she wrote, Lapis turned and shot daggers at Jasper.

"I won't lose to you." Lapis said as Pearl touched her arm.

"What?" Jasper said confused.

Lapis ignored her as she turned to Pearl. Pearl nodded her head and Lapis smiled at her. She went to turn away but paused. She glanced at Jasper again before turning and planting a kiss on Pearl's cheek. Jasper frowned as a twinge of jealousy hit her followed by confusion. Why was she getting jealous?

As Lapis turned and walked away Jasper saw that Pearl looked a bit confused herself. She touched her cheek where Lapis had kissed her before shaking her head a bit and handing her notebook to Jasper. Jasper took it, along with a pencil as she read what Pearl wrote.

'Ready to go?'

'Were you waiting here the whole time?'

Pearl read Jasper's question and nodded causing Jasper to roll her eyes and reach over to write something else down before giving Pearl the pencil.

'You didn't have to. You could of come in the gym and waited there.'

Pearl made a face before writing her response down, causing Jasper to laugh at her words.

'It smells really bad in there. It's disgusting. You all really need to shower more'

Jasper was in tears at Pearl's annoyed face. It took her a few minutes of laughing to have Pearl huff and walk off. Jasper wiped the tears from her eyes before jogging a few steps down the hall to join Pearl. As she fell in step with the slender girl she manage to stop laughing just enough to have a big smile on her face instead. Pearl was less then amused at her expression as they walked to the Auditorium.

When they got there, Jasper went to sit on the floor like usual but Pearl stopped her. She pointed to the bench as she sat down. Jasper was surprised as she joined her. As Pearl put her notebook on top of piano and got her black box and headphones out, Jasper had written down a question for her.

'What is that black box for anyway?'

Pearl gave Jasper a sideways glance as she slipped the headphones on her head. Jasper watched as she fiddled with the black box a bit before putting it on the piano. Jasper was unconsciously biting the inside of her cheek again. She was suddenly worried that she upset her again with her question. She fiddled with her fingers as she saw Pearl write down her response. Jasper was kind of hesitant to read it when she looked up.

'It helps translate the vibrations of the cords from my piano strokes and transforms them into vibrations that my ear's can pick up and turn into sound within my ear canal'

"Um." Jasper said looking confused. The big words Pearl had written down confused her. She wasn't really good with words. Sports, yes but not words. After giving Pearl a confused look she earned a dramatic eye-roll from her before she wrote something else down.

'It helps me hear the piano'

"Oh." Jasper said nodding her head as Pearl began to play.

They sat there for quite a while before Jasper picked up the pencil to write something down. She had a question in her head and was debating weather or not to ask it. Let's face it, Jasper was super curious to know about Pearl's hearing loss. She wanted to know so much about it, about Pearl. Like how she functioned without being able to hear or how she lived with only piano music in her head.

Jasper held the pencil for a time before slowly leaning forward. After she wrote her question she covered it with her hand, suddenly having second thoughts. Pearl had noticed and had stopped playing. She was looking at Jasper's hand then her face. Jasper couldn't bring herself to look at Pearl as she felt her slender fingers wrap around her hand. She felt her heart pick up a bit as Pearl moved her hand from the notebook and onto her lap.

'How did you loose your hearing?'

Jasper was waiting for a slap on the arm or for Pearl to storm off. When she didn't do ether she looked down at Pearl. She had no expression on her face as she looked at the notebook. Jasper was about to write an apology when Pearl plucked the pencil out of her hand on her lap. Still holding Jasper's hand where she had it, she used her free hand to write down her answer.

'I lost it from being sick'

Pearl paused for a moment before adding more.

'I can't spell the name of disease but it is an immune system... _sickness_. What happens is it shuts down my body and stops me from functioning. It mainly affects my senses. Last time I got sick I had to go to the hospital because I collapsed on stage... When I woke up a few days later I couldn't hear anything...'

Jasper was frozen as Pearl put the pencil down. They sat in silence for a while before Jasper picked up the pencil.

'When was the last time you got sick like that?'

'It's been a while. I am on several medications to help my body function with my... sickness.'

'can it kill you?'

Pearl didn't answer. Jasper put the pencil down and looked at Pearl to see her looking away from her slightly. Pearl was trying to hide it but she could see a tear fall down her face. Jasper felt bad for asking her if it can kill her.

_Of course it can you idiot_ , Jasper's brain yelled at her, _and now she is upset again. Can't you do anything right?_

Jasper wasn't sure what to do. She sat there for a bit before biting her lip. She took her hand off of Pearl's lap and wrapped it around her small frame. She pulled Pearl close to her as she turned her head and put it in Pearl's hair. Jasper's own hair fell around them, cutting them off from the rest of the world. Jasper then took Pearl's shaking hand in hers and held it to her throat like she had seen Lapis do before.

"I'm sorry." Jasper murmured "Please don't cry."

Jasper didn't know if doing this was the right move but she had already messed up twice with Pearl, so a third time would be the charm right? Jasper could feel Pearl twitching a bit as her silent tears fell down her face. After awhile of just holding her, Pearl seemed to have calmed down. She was taking a few deep breaths as she took her hand back from Jasper's throat. She made no move to get out of Jasper's arm as she grabbed her notebook and wrote a quick note down.

'I'm sorry'

'Sorry for what?'

'Crying.'

Jasper shook her head and sat up with her arm still wrapped around Pearl as she responded.

'I made you cry. I'm the one who's sorry... I've done that twice now huh.'

Jasper put the pencil down and look away from Pearl. Her eyes looked around the auditorium seating as she took a deep breath. She had to think of something, anything to make it up to Pearl. She sifted through her thoughts until she got an idea. A smile spread across Jasper's face as she took the pencil from Pearl's hand and scribbled a note down for her. Pearl wiped her eyes before reading.

'Did you wanna go to the beach with me tomorrow? There is a big party going on and I'd like you to go'

Jasper looked at Pearl with a hopeful expression that soon dropped.

'I'm already going with Lapis. I'm sorry.'

Jasper shrugged kinda defeated as she took her arm back from around Pearl. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably as Pearl touched her arm lightly. Jasper just gave her a smile, hiding the fact that it bothered her that Lapis had already asked her to go. They sat for a while as Pearl played until it was time to leave. As they were leaving Jasper had an idea pop into her head. If she was going with Lapis, then Jasper could still hang out with her right? All she had to do was just get Pearl alone for a bit to make her smile. That's how she would make up for it.

**0**

As Jasper woke up to the bright Saturday sun poring through her window and she couldn't help but smile. She jumped up and threw on a shirt as she left her room. Wondering down the stairs she could hear Amethyst in the kitchen with Rose. As she made her way into the kitchen she frowned a bit seeing Rose's boyfriend Greg sitting at there table. Jasper grunted as Amethyst waved at her as she went to over to the counter and grabbed a banana.

"Sup runt, bubblegum." She looked to Greg "peeping tom."

"Seriously?" Rose said as Greg waved high before turning his face away out of shock.

"What?" Jasper said looking down at her self for a second. "I put a shirt on."

"Your still in your boxers." Rose hissed as Amethyst laughed past a mouth full of food.

"I'm dressed, what more do you want." Jasper yawned as she took a bit of her banana.

"Whats the plan?" Amethyst said swallowing her food.

"I'm gonna leave with Greg and meet you there." Rose said finishing the bowl of cereal in-front of her.

"Where is this party on the beach anyway?" Greg asked as Jasper tossed her banana peal into the trash.

"Under the cliff past the big donut." Jasper said "Its just around that bend."

"Its gonna be so lit!" Amethyst said jumping down from her spot on the counter.

Rose rolled her eyes as she started pinning her hair back, making a lazy long flow of pink curls down her back. She had so many bobby pins she could be considered reflective.

"Just glue your hair back." Jasper said as Amethyst snorted "Would save the rest of the bobby pins we have from a horrible pink death."

Both sisters laughed as Rose threw her spoon at Jasper who leaned to the side, letting the spoon clatter against the window before landing in the sink. As Rose stood and tossed her bowl at Jasper, who caught it and put it in the sink as well, as Greg joined her. They both waved goodbye and headed out the door as Amethyst made her way to the stairs. As Jasper joined Amethyst and headed up the stairs she couldn't help but roll her eyes at Amethyst's excited expression.

"Your going to break the stairs." Jasper said watching Amethyst run up them and turn around on the landing to face her. "Did you drink a pack of red-bull or something?"

"My band is coming to the party too." Amethyst said excitedly. "I'm so happy there all coming."

Amethysts face turned a little red and she looked away from her sister trying to hide it but Jasper had caught it and smirked. "Seems more then just happy that they are coming."

"Yea well." Amethyst said shrugging and turning to go to her room "I'm gonna ask the chick out I like... Hope she likes me back."

Before she could disappear into her room Jasper reached out and wrapped her arm around her sister and dragged her back.

"She's gonna say yes." Jasper said.

"Yea.. You sure?" Amethyst said looking up at her.

"Course." Jasper smiled "Then you can go bother her and leave me the hell alone for a change."

Both sister smiled before going to there rooms and getting ready. Jasper wasn't a big fan of bathing suits. She never liked girl ones and boy ones never came with a top(duh) so she always mixed and matched. She put on a black and orange sports bra that she had found for swimming competitions at the mall and a pair of men's black swim trunks. She grabbed a button up short sleeve black shirt and put it on, leaving it unbuttoned. She wondered into the bathroom after and started throwing her hair up as Amethyst came out of her room and pointed at herself.

"Hows this look?" She asked her sister.

Jasper leaned back looking at her as she twisted her hair around in her hand. Amethyst was in a two peace swim suit. She had a tight purple tube top on with black booty shorts. she saw her face was red as she brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Hot." Jasper said straitening up as she grabbed several hairbands. "She will definitely fall for you."

"You think?" Amethyst asked as she came down the hall and into the bathroom. She laughed as she saw Jasper trying to put her hair up. She put the toilet lid down and stood on top as she smacked her sisters hands away. "Let me help."

Jasper grumbled as she felt Amethyst undo all her hard work, letting her hair fall down her back again. Amethyst grabbed a brush and brushed Jasper's hair back into her hand. "Do you ever brush this thing?" She grumbled as she tugged the brush through her sisters hair. She eventually got all of it into her fist and managed to get it back into a ponytail.

"I forget." Jasper said with a grunt as she shrugged.

Amethyst rolled her eyes as she twisted Jasper's hair around and around, trying to get control of it.

"So how are you and Pearl?" Amethyst asked suddenly. "Did you make up?"

"Shes super mad at me but forgives me." Jasper said with a big smile "I'm gonna make her not mad today at the party."

"Shes going?" Amethyst looked surprised in the mirror.

"Lapis asked her to go before I did." Jasper said a little sour.

"I don't think she is going because of Lapis." Amethyst said. "She hates party's."

Jasper frowned at her sister before something popped into her head. "I asked her about her hearing loss."

Amethyst paused for a moment before she managed to twist Jasper's hair up onto her head. "How did that go?"

"She said she collapsed on stage when she got sick." Jasper said "And woke up with no hearing."

"I know that performance..." Amethyst said after a minute. "Hand me a few hair ties."

"What performance?" Jasper asked handing her sister what she wanted.

Amethyst put her elbow on Jasper's hair, holding it in place, as she fished out her phone from her top. She fiddled with it a bit before handing it down to Jasper. "Mom took me to see it before she... We went to see one of my friends that was preforming in that play. I didn't know that was Pearl who collapsed on stage until some time later. They were practicing the opening scenes a few hours before there first show. We got in early."

Jasper held Amethyst's phone and watched the video as her sister continued to try and tame her wild hair.

The video started off with the curtain rising and about a dozen girls on stage. As the music started and they all twisted and moved Jasper had spotted Pearl. She was in the back of the group as they danced around. As the show played on Jasper followed Pearl around the stage. With each scene playing on she could see Pearl start to fall behind the others. Her movements were seconds slower then her group, making the whole thing look slightly off. After a few minutes it was Pearl and fives others dancing on the stage. Her and another girl were twirling around four guys. As the guys moved and put their hands on the girls waists and threw them up into a graceful twirl Pearl didn't turn the whole way around in the air, causing the two guys under her to catch her cowardly in there attempt to straighten her out. When she came down the guys flipped her over backwards and onto her feet. As both girls took a step back to do a twirl Pearl collapsed. The music cut off and the stage lights came up as several people ran out onto the stage. A gentle hand covered the shot before the video stopped.

Jasper hadn't realized Amethyst was done with her hair till her sister took her phone back. Jasper stood there in silence as her sister messed with her phone before putting it away in her top again. Jasper blinked a bit as Amethyst put her hand on her arm.

"She told me about how her sickness takes her senses from her." Jasper said looking down at Amethyst "Then she cried when I asked her if it can kill her."

Amethyst snorted as Jasper frowned at her "Aren't you just a graceful sensitive person."

Jasper rolled her eyes as Amethyst threw her own hair up into a messy bun on her head "Lets get going. You have a very angry Pearl to make up with."

Jasper walked out of the bathroom and into her room. She went over to the remains of her closet door. She tossed pieces of the door aside as she grabbed a small backpack she used for beach trips. It was orange and blue and just smelled of sand, sea, and sunblock. She grabbed her volleyball from under a few shirts as she threw her bag on her shoulder. Walking out of her room Amethyst threw two towels into the backpack. They both smiled as they made there way quickly to the stairs. They both couldn't hold back there excitement the closer they got to the front door.

"Aww man." Amethyst said running down the stairs, Jasper on her heals. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

Both of them smiled as they yanked the front door open. They were all but running to Jasper's truck. Jasper couldn't remember the last time they went out like this to have fun that DIDN'T involve the cops and there aunts. As Jasper unlocked the truck and they got in her phone started buzzing in her pocket. She took it out and tossed it to her sister as she shut the door and put her seat-belt on.

"Yo periwinkle." Amethyst said as she put her own seat-belt on. "Were leaving now to get you... Yes we will let you know when we pull up... No we wont honk this time, bye!"

Amethyst put her sister phone in the cup holder as the truck roared to life. Jasper set her phone up with her loud music and Amethyst laughed over the song playing.

"Were gonna roll up playing this? Shes going to get so mad." Amethyst said as they pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street to Peridot's. Peridot lived two streets away but it was a straight shot. "Isn't this offensive to her Indian Asian culture or whatever?"

"Hell yea it is!" Jasper said excitedly.

As Peridot's house came into view Jasper hit the gas only to screech loudly to a stop right out front. She leaned on the horn a few times as Amethyst lost it next to her. They both were laughing like idiots as Peridot came flying out of her front door. She was yelling at them, carrying a backpack with her, as she jogged over. Jasper didn't let off the horn until the back door opened.

"You Clods!" Peridot yelled over the music. "I told you **NOT** to do that!"

As she climbed in Jasper and Amethyst had stopped laughing long enough to change the music. Jasper put on a playlist of Peridot's favorite songs as her best friend shut the back door and put her seat-belt on.

"Eh I forgot." Amethyst said shrugging as they pulled away from Peridot's house.

"Liar!" Peridot snapped making them laugh again. "And playing my favorite songs won't work- I CAN BE YOUR HERO!"

Peridot couldn't finish her full sentence before bursting out in song. She was dancing in the back seat as Amethyst pulled out her phone and started recording her. Peridot was a k-poper on-top of being a nerd. She could never resist singing and dancing when Jasper would put on her favorite k-pop songs. Jasper wasn't a fan of this style of music but it made her best friend happy and not annoying for a few minutes.

Peridot hadn't realized that she was being recorded till Jasper parked her truck in the lot behind the big donut. Amethyst was cackling as Peridot lunged forward trying to get her phone.

"Give me!" Peridot yelled as Jasper jumped out of the truck and grabbed her stuff trying not to laugh too loud.

"Nope." Amethyst as she opened her door and rolled out of it and onto the ground. Peridot tried to chase her but Jasper had reached forward and grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

Jasper tossed her volleyball to Amethyst, who had come around the front of the truck, as she pulled Peridot to herself. She flipped Peridot over her shoulder as she reached into the back seat and grabbed her bag. Peridot yelled about being put down as Jasper shut and locked her truck.

"Nah." Jasper said as her and Amethyst turned to walk towards the beach "Your much harder to loose this way."

"I am not! Put me down you pebble!" Peridot sneered as she hit Jasper's back. "You can not do this to the great and lovable Peridot!"

When they reached the boardwalk Jasper decided to put Peridot down. She received a hit in the arm as she chuckled at her friends annoyed face. Jasper gave Peridot her bag as they walked under the boardwalk and out onto the sand. They turned to walk down the sandy beach as they saw more kids from school ahead of them, going in the same direction.

"Oh Perri, did you bring the thing?" Amethyst said leaning forward to look around her sister to Peridot.

"Of course." Peridot said with a confidant smile.

"What thing?" Jasper asked confused.

"Perri here thought you wouldn't be able to make it up to Pearl cause your bad with words." Amethyst said tossing the volleyball between her hands. "So she made something to help win back Pearl's favor with you."

Jasper looked to Peridot to see her fishing around in her back pack. After a few moment she pulled out a black box and held it up to Jasper. Jasper took it and turned it over slowly in her hand. "What is it?"

"She fixed Pearl's hearing aids." Amethyst said.

Jasper's eyes went wide as Peridot spoke up. "I improved them! She will now be able to hear things like its all muffled by a big fuzzy earmuffs but a lot better then she could before."

Jasper was stunned as she came to a stop. She just stared at the box before looking to Peridot.

"You had no idea what I had to do to get Lapis to give those to me." Peridot said with a shiver. "Just give those to her if you can't figure out how to say sorry on your own."

"Why?" Jasper said stunned.

"Why what?" Peridot looked at her confused.

Jasper looked at the box again as they started moving again. She looked at Peridot then the box. Peridot rolled her eyes as she understood Jasper's unfinished question.

"You suck at talking to people. Especially girls you have a crush on." Peridot said.

"I do not have a crush on her!" Jasper snapped. "I just feel bad that I broke them!"

"Yea right." Amethyst said rolling her eyes. "That's not what I saw yesterday in the auditorium."

Jasper growled at her sister as Peridot continued talking like they didn't interrupt her. "I figured giving her something like this would win back your favor with her."

"Thanks Perri." Jasper said wrapping her arm around her friend and pulling her into a sideways hug.

Peridot fixed her glasses and smiled up at the giant. "Gotta help my best friend not look like a _complete_ idiot in front of her crush."

Jasper frowned as Peridot laughed at her with Amethyst. She was going to say something else but they had reached the party. At-least half the school was out here. There was huge bonfire being set up in the center of the crowd. Music was playing from some big speakers someone had dragged out here and people were dancing to the music. There was a group of kids, mainly her volleyball team, playing a game of volleyball near the water. Against the cliff face itself sat several huge logs and kids lounging around.

Jasper couldn't help but smile as several people waved at them as they made there way over to the cliff side. As they got closer Amethyst grabbed her sisters arm and shook it. "Aww man, I see my band mates." Amethyst pointed out a group of three who were talking among themselves. The tallest one of the group waved over at Amethyst and she waved back.

"Ok." Breath Amethyst letting go of Jasper's arm and giving her her volleyball "There she is. Imma go ask her out."

Jasper couldn't help but smirk as her sister punched her own hand before jogging off. "Get it Girl!"

Amethyst twisted in a circle, giving them a thumbs up, before going off to her friends. Jasper turned her attention back to the logs as her and Peridot made there way closer to them. Her eyes were scanning the crowd as they approached. Most kids had cheap drinks in there hands and were laughing. Most seemed to be having a good time, all but one. Jasper couldn't help but smile as she spotted Pearl. She was sitting on the furthest log from everyone. She had a book in her hand and a frown on her face. Pearl was looking at Lapis, who was surrounded by several guys a few feet away and seeming to love the attention.

Jasper smirked as she took her volleyball and tossed it ahead of her. The ball bounced and rolled to a stop at Pearl's feet. Pearl looked at it perplexed before picking it up. Jasper couldn't help but chucked as Pearl brushed the sand off the ball before looking up. Jasper smiled as Pearl saw her. She smiled and waved at the giant before pointing to the ball. Jasper nodded as she smiled more.

She stopped right in-front of Pearl and knelled in front of her as Pearl offered her her ball back. Jasper didn't take her ball but instead reached around it to Pearl's notebook. She plucked it from her lap and scribbled something down before tossing her bag next to Pearl's stuff, after she put the black box inside it.

'Ya know, the point of a beach party is to show off the cute bathing suites you girls have'

Pearl rolled her eyes as she read the question after they switched objects.

'I _am_ wearing it. Its under my dress'

'Could have fooled me'

"Well I don't see you wearing a swimsuit ether'

Jasper rolled her eyes as she wrote her response.

'I _am_ wearing it. This _is_ my bathing suit. Girl's cloths... don't exactly hold me well'

Pearl's face went a bit red as she looked Jasper over quickly. Jasper felt her own face turn a little pink as Pearl's eyes wondered over her. She felt a bit self conscious as her eyes met Pearl's. Pearl scribbled something down before leaning forward and brushing a loose strand of Jasper's hair out of her face. Jasper herself couldn't help but look over Pearl's figure as well. She was in a loose fitting white and blue dress that looked too big for her. She could see the thin straps of a bikini top tied around her slender neck, showing off her porcelain white skin. The dress itself was a flowing fabric that moved in the slightest breeze with quarter sleeves to match. It took a bit of effort to pull her eyes down from Pearl's face to read what she wrote.

'you look really-'

Pearl covered her words before Jasper could finish reading them. Pearl's face was super red and it made Jasper laugh. She went to pull Pearl's hand away to finish reading when another slim figure appeared next to them.

"Jasper." Lapis said a bit dry. She had her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. Wearing a blue cover over her body she rolled her eyes before smirking "Ready to loose this dive off?"

"Hah! You wish." Jasper countered. She jumped to her feet with fire in her eyes. "Prepare to loose Lazuli."

Bother girls earned a round if whistles, hoots, and hollers as they took off there extra cloths to dawn there swim suits. Compared to Jasper, Lapis's swim suit was a thin two peace that barley covered anything. As she turned to walk away Jasper tossed her shirt on her bag, kicking her boots off after. Her eye caught Pearl's face and it made her turn a little red. Pearl's eyes were glued to Jasper's body, her own face red as a tomato. It made Jasper feel a little self conscious but in a good way.

"Let's go you rock!" Lapis called from a few feet away.

Jasper winked at Pearl, making her face even more red, before turning and jogging off after Lapis. Both of them, followed by Malachite and Rose, made there way up to the far cliff next to the party. It was a ten minute climb but once at the top you could see all of beach city. The waves slammed against the rocky wall some thirty feet below them and the wind was full of salt. It was beautiful up here.

"OK!" Malachite said taking a few steps forward before turning around to face the group "The rules are the same as always. First one to reach dead mans peak and make it back up here wins."

Jasper punched her hand in excitement as Lapis stretched her arms up over her head. Both girls walked right to the edge of the cliff before turning and taking exactly ten steps back. Jasper jumped a bit in anticipation as Lapis twisted her body around one way then the other. As soon as they were ready Malachite raised her hands up over her head and both girls bent down to touch the ground. The second she dropped her hands they were off. Both girls were in sync a they ran and jumped off the cliff face, the sound of the party roaring up at them in excitement.

Dead mans peak was a out cropped rock about twenty feet from the cliff face in open water. No-one really knows how it formed but it always looked like a horn (or a spike) coming out of the water. Its always been a challenge to swim out to it because the pull of the current made it near impossible. Only several people have ever made it out there, including Jasper and Lapis.

Both girls did there own things as they jumped. Lapis did a graceful flip forwards as she turned into a dive where Jasper did a side flip, showing off a bit, before twisting herself into a dive. As soon as they hit the water they were off. Jasper could feel the push and pull of the water as she swam. She kept herself just below the surface, only coming up for air when she needed. She could see Lapis at least ten feet ahead of her touch dead mans peak. As Jasper reached the peak Lapis flew by her in the water. Jasper grinned her teeth as she twisted around and pushed off dead mans peak. As she swam back towards the cliff she could feel herself smiling in excitement about the whole thing. By the time she reached the cliff face, Lapis was already a third of the way up.

This is how it always was. Lapis was a fantastic swimmer. She could out swim anyone but out of the water was Jasper's territory. Jasper flew up the cliff face as fast as she could. She would spend days out here on this cliff. She would jump down and climb up again and again. This was her way of working out that didn't involve beating someone half to death.

As they climbed towards the top the party was screaming at them while the waves slammed into there backs, threatening to knock them back down into its embrace. Jasper closed the distance between herself and Lapis rather quickly causing both girls reached the top at the same time. They both yanked themselves over the ledge and scrambled to there feet. Both ran as fast at they could towards Malachite, who had her arms stretched out on either side of her. Both Lapis and Jasper tagged Malachite's hands at they flew by her.

"Wow." Rose said as both Jasper and Lapis slowed to a stop to catch there breath "That was incredible!"

Jasper put her hands on her knees as she took a few deep breaths. She brushed a strand of her wet hair out of her face as she looked to Lapis. Lapis smiled back and both shared a fist bump at they turned to face Malachite.

"This is just funny." Malachite said as Jasper and Lapis walked over to her. All three girls walked to the cliff side facing the party below. Over half the party was standing on the edge of the water, looking up at them. Malachite took both Jasper and Lapis's hands in her own.

"This is the best thing ever." She added.

"Who won?" Rose asked from behind them as Malachite chucked.

"Your gonna flip out." Malachite added.

"Mal." Jasper and Lapis snapped.

"Ok, ok ok." Malachite said. "And the winner is"

After a few tense moments Malachite raised her hand and both girls screamed with the crowd below. Jasper threw her other hand up and yelled in excitement as Rose came up and hugged her. Lapis huffed as she yanked her hand back and crossed her arms.

"You finally won!" Rose shouted. Both sisters hugged as Lapis snorted.

"You only won because your good at rock climbing." Lapis said rolling her eyes with a smile "But good job."

Jasper looked to her sister and Mal with a mischievous look that they both picked up on. All three walked towards Lapis. Lapis frowned as she backed up away from them. She was about to turn and run but Jasper had reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Let go!" Lapis yelled as all three girls grabbed her and picked her up. They walked over to the cliff side as Lapis struggled in there grip. "Don't you dare throw me!"

"Too late!" Jasper said as all three girls chucked Lapis over the side of the cliff.

Lapis screamed as she fell causing the other girls to laugh. Within a second Jasper pushed Rose off the cliff and soon followed them with Malachite. All four plunged into the water below and Jasper got a face full of water the second her head came up for a breath. She was laughing as her sister and Lapis splashed water at her. They were both yelling at her for being a jerk as the waves rocked them about.

"Its getting choppy!" Malachite called as she started swimming towards the shore. "Lets go before we become fish food!"

All four girls swam there way to shore quickly as the waves started to get bigger. Back on solid land people high fived Jasper and congratulated her on her win. Some teased that it was about time and others told her she just got lucky. She was hyped as she made her way back to where she left Peridot and Pearl. Peridot was jumping up and down yelling as Pearl was clapping her hands.

"You finally beat her!" Peridot yelled as Jasper sat in the sand next to Pearl's legs.

"Damn straight!" Jasper said flexing her arms "Couldn't stop these baby's!"

She herd Pearl snort as Peridot started to give and play by play of the whole challenge from down here on the beach, complete with exaggerated arm movements and gestures. Jasper glanced up at Pearl as she leaned her arms back on the log and stretched her legs out in-front of her. Her face turned red as she saw that Pearl was looking down at her. Jasper looked away as Pearl reached up and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. Pearl's cool fingers on Jasper's forehead felt nice.

Pearl really was cute. Jasper had agreed with that fact in her head a little bit ago. She liked the way Pearl would just gently reach out and touch her face. She looked so pretty with the wind gently ruffling her dress around her form. She especially liked that Pearl had moved to sit closer to Jasper, her knee just brushing Jasper's shoulder. Pearl's fingers brushed Jasper's burning cheeks for a moment before handing her her notebook.

'That was pretty spectacular'

Jasper smiled as she wrote her response

'Thanks! I finally won!'

'How long did it take you to to finally beat her?'

'Almost two years'

Jasper looked up to see Pearl in shock. She chuckled a bit at her face as Peridot stopped talking and came to sit on the other side of Pearl. Pearl looked even cuter with a confused look on her face followed by a small pink glow from Jasper's cheesy grin. After looking at the pair, Peridot had decided to go grab them all some drinks. As she walked away Pearl wrote something for Jasper.

'Your hair is a mess'

Jasper raised her eyebrows as she blew a strand out of her eyes.

'It's not that bad'

'Can I fix it? Your bun is lopsided and its bothering me'

"You just wanna run your fingers through my hair, don't you?'

Jasper looked at Pearl to see her huff in annoyance. She crossed her arms and turned her face away but Jasper caught her red cheeks. She smiled to herself before reaching over and placing the notebook on Pearl's lap, forcing her to look down at it.

'Sure but I'm warning you, its a wild mess'

Pearl sighed as she placed the notebook on Jasper's leg before standing up. She disappeared from Jasper's view and she soon felt a tugging on her hair. Her waves of hair suddenly fell down around her shoulders. She felt Pearl lean over her shoulder and she froze. The smell of lavender filled her nose and she had to look away. Pearl's neck was just inches from Jasper's face as she was writing something down in the notebook. Jasper had the urge to press her lips against Pearl's slender neck and she was happy when Pearl leaned away again. Jasper took a few deep breaths as she looked down at the notebook.

'You weren't kidding'

Jasper chucked at this. She then felt her eyes roll a bit in her head as she felt Pearl run her fingers through her hair. Her shoulders relaxed as Pearl pulled and twisted her hair. Jasper closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of Pearl's cool fingers against her scalp before a snort filled her ears.

"Aww you two look like you made up just fine."

Jasper opened her eyes to see Amethyst standing next to a taller girl. She was in a red and black top, matching cover around her waist, with reflective sunglasses on her face. She had her arm wrapped around Amethyst's shoulders making her sister smile with a big dopey grin painted on her face. Jasper wiggled her eyebrows at them "Told you she would say yes."

"Yea well." Amethyst said rolling her eyes before leaning into the tall girl. "This is my oldest sister Jasper. Jas, this is Garnet. She is the keyboard player in my band."

Garnet nodded at Jasper as Jasper gave her a two finger salute from her forehead. The pair joined them as Pearl cam around and sat on Jasper's left. As she fixed her dress Jasper unconsciously moved her left arm to lay it around Pearl. Pearl in response leaned into Jasper's form. They all talked for a good chunk of the party, Peridot joining them with drinks, as they laughed and had a good time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was one of the two that inspired me to write the whole thing.

The sun was starting to set as the party winded down. The group of them had been pulled into various party games and challenges. Through out the party Jasper could see Pearl go from having a blast to miserable after a while. She only seemed to get that way when Jasper was pulled from there silent conversations into another game or contest of some kind. Eventually Jasper settled down next to her, once again unconsciously wrapping her arm around Pearl's frame and having Pearl lean into her. The group of girls eventually found themselves still chatting, drinking cheep beers, and having a blast when Pearl suddenly yawned in Jasper's ear. The giant chucked a bit as she nudged Pearl.

"Think its time we call it." Jasper said.

The group slowly got up and gathered there things while Pearl remained seated. Jasper looked at her funny as she put her backpack on after stuffing her black shirt and volleyball into it. She bent down, getting very close to the slender girl, as wrote something in Pearl's notebook.

'Need a ride home?'

'Lapis is supposed to take me but I don't know where she is'

Jasper stood upright and looked around the beach. "Anyone seen Lapis?" She asked as the others paused. They all looked around for her until Peridot spotted her.

"There she is." Peridot said pointing. At the far end of the logs sat Lapis and a few girls. They were all laughing super loud and slurring there words. Jasper rolled her eyes and bent back down to write.

'Your **NOT** going home with her'

'It would be impolite not too'

'She's trashed. Your not getting in her car. I'm taking you home and I'm not taking no for an answer'

Jasper was frowning at the notebook before standing up and looking at Lapis again. She didn't like the idea of Lapis driving Pearl home. Especially in her drunken state. It made her a little jealous at the idea of Lapis getting alone time with Pearl. Amethyst and her girlfriend Garnet were talking to each other as Peridot put her backpack on. Jasper felt Pearl's hand on her arm and she turned to see the slender girl standing on the log, holding her notebook up.

'I can't just leave her hear'

Jasper grumbled a bit as she turned to Peridot. "Find Lapis's stuff." Jasper said as she walked over to the group of giggling girls and over to Lapis. As much as her and Lapis didn't get along and as much as she just wanted to leave her drunken butt behind, she didn't wanna make Pearl mad again. Hell she just got her happy darn it! She wasn't about to mess that up again.

"Hey therrrrrr Jassy boy." Lapis slurred as the group of girls giggled "Come to pa- _hic_ -rty with ussss."

"C'mon you drunk mess." Jasper said taking Lapis by the arm and pulling her to her feet. "Let's go."

"You gotta buy me- _hic_ -me dinner first." Lapis said stumbling a bit. "If you wanna parrrty my way."

Jasper roller her eyes. She leaned down, throwing Lapi's drunk self over her shoulder, before turning around. Lapis was giggling to herself as Jasper carried her over to the others. Amethyst was laughing and Pearl looked concerned while Peridot just rolled her eyes, not surprised at all by Lapis' drunken state. Lapis kept giggling like an idiot as Jasper came up to the group. She took Pearl's pencil and was writing something down when lapis pipped up.

"I reeeeealy like her." Lapis said as she snapped Jasper's sports bra against her back "She ma- _hic_ -makes it sooo hard to get into her pants thoo."

"Hey!" Jasper snapped as she looked over her shoulder to Lapis. "Who are you talking about anyway?"

"I wont loose Pearl to you." Lapis said weakly hitting Jasper's back.

Jasper rolled her eyes as she looked down at Pearl.

'Now can I give you a ride home?'

'I need to get my stuff from her car first'

Jasper nodded as the group stared walking back up the beach. Jasper had told Peridot to give Pearl Lapis' car keys and she obliged. Jasper took to being a bit behind the group as they walked down the beach. She reached out and gently took Pearl's hand. She didn't know if it was a good idea but she was happy when Pearl twisted her fingers with her own. It made Jasper smiled a bit as Lapis grumbled about Pearl not holding her hand and wanted to so badly. It unintentionally made Jasper a little smug.

As they neared the boardwalk Pearl had signed to Peridot that she was going ahead to get her stuff and would be right back. She gave her bag to Peridot before jogging off ahead of them onto the boards. Jasper couldn't help but stair as she ran.

"Just ask her out already." Jasper looked to her sister as she spoke "Its obvious you like her."

"Shut up." Jasper snapped as a groaning sound filled the air. "What was that?"

Lapis was chattering away about something as the group heard the metal groaning sound again. Amethyst pointed out where it was coming from and Jasper felt her heart stop for a moment. The sign above the fry shop was leaning forward, looking like it was about to fall, and Pearl was about to jog under it. The group was frozen as Jasper yelled out Pearl's name.

"She can't hear you you clod!" Peridot said "We need to do something!"

Jasper was the first to move. She dumped Lapis and her backpack on Peridot and took off running, Garnet right on her heals. Both girls ran as fast at they could towards Pearl, who had stopped because she dropped her pencil from her ear. Jasper pulled ahead of Garnet as the sign started to tip forward. Pearl looked up a bit confused, as she could feel the vibrations of heavy boots through the boards. She turned around to see Jasper's outreached hand just inches from her. Pearl looked shocked as Jasper's left hand grabbed her and pulled her against the giant.

Jasper held Pearl against her, her slender back against her huge frame, as she threw them both against the fry shop. Jasper pressed up against the wall under the counter as her right arm came up and around them, covering her and Pearl's face. Seconds after they had move the sign had tipped forward and slammed down into the boards. It then leaned and smashed into the window above them, the counter being the only thing holding it up from crushing them. Dust and sand filled the air for a moment as the boardwalk vibrated from the impact.

Jasper took a few deep breaths as Pearl shook in her arms. She could feel Pearl hyperventilating as she slowly lowered her arm from there faces. Jasper groaned before letting out a laugh and putting her head on Pearl's. She took one of Pearl's shaking hands and held it against her throat.

"It's ok." Jasper said "It's ok."

Pearl was shaking really bad as Jasper looked around. Through the small gap she could see the others running over to them. Garnet was bent down looking in at them as the others came closer. Pearl twisted herself around so her back was against the fry shop like Jasper's. Both just looking at the giant sign just inches from there face.

"Are you ok?" Garnet asked.

"She's freaking out." Jasper said holding Pearl tight against her, more out of need then fear. "But were ok."

Before Garnet could answer the whole boardwalk shook. The boards under them dropped about a foot straight down, causing Jasper to curse and Pearl to turn into her after letting out a light yelp. Garnet yelled at the others to stop running as the boards groaned again. Jasper and Garnet locked eyes for a moment before Jasper felt the boards give. She grabbed the front of Pearl's dress and shoved her at Garnet as the boards collapsed under them, sending Jasper and the sign down into a mix of sand, profanity, and concrete below.

After a few moments the dust and sand had settle enough for Jasper to coughed as she blinked her eyes. "Ow."

Jasper slowly got her arms under her and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees as a fine layer of sand fell from her shoulders and hair. After a few deep breaths and coughs she rocked back onto her knees, knocking broken boards and more sand off her back. As she looked around, resting her hands on her thighs, she took in the damage around her. The sign was embedded into the concrete and into the bottom of the shop above. Boards, nails, and sand made a mess around her. She looked up to see everyone, minus Lapis, looking down at her. They all had a mix of worry and horror on there faces. Peridot was death gripping Amethyst's arm while Garnet had Pearl against her, holding her so she wouldn't fall in as she was pulling her to her feet.

"Jasper!" Amethyst's worried voice carried down to her. "Are you ok?!"

"I'm alive!" Jasper called up to her, waving her hand over her head for a moment.

"Are you hurt!?" Peridot called down.

"Don't think so!" Jasper said getting to her feet and dusting herself off a bit. "Just give me a moment, I'll be right up, but stand back! I don't want the rest of you falling down here! I can't carry all your asses!"

She looked around for a bit before walking over to the sign. She looked it over, determining that it was sturdy enough after hitting it with her elbow, before climbing up onto it. She used it as a ramp and made her way back up slowly, ready to jump if it shifted at all. When she reached the fry shop she grabbed the counter for support as she pushed off the now cracked wall and twisted up onto the boards, just like she was rock climbing. The others ran around the giant hole to join her as she got to her feet and took a few steps away from her recent escape pit. Pearl immediately hugged Jasper tight as they all joined her, making her face red.

"I'm fine." Jasper said placing a hand on Pearl's head. She smiled down at her as Pearl looked up. The others started talking all at once but Jasper could only focus on Pearl. She was still breathing fast and shaking rather hard. Jasper frowned at her and she put her face back into Jasper's shoulder. Jasper moved her arm from Pearl's head to around her shoulder's as she saw Rose and Greg running over.

"What in the world happened?!" Rose said coming up to them. "We felt the boardwalk shake and then we saw the sign fall and- Jasper, your bleeding!"

"What?" Jasper said confused. Rose pointed down and all eyes fell on Jasper's left calf. It was cut pretty deep and bleeding bad. "Is it bad I don't even feel that?"

She turned her leg to look at it better as Peridot dragged drunk Lapis over to them. Lapis was giggling at something, trying to hug on Pearl who was having no part of her, as Peridot handed Jasper her bag. Jasper let go of Pearl and pulled out her black shirt, moving to wrap it around her bleeding leg. "There, all better."

"You need to go get stitches." Greg said. "That looks really bad."

Jasper rolled her eye's in response "Its fine."

"At-least go and get it looked at." Garnet said in a calm convincing voice. "It's better safe then sorry."

Jasper sighed in defeat after a few moments of debate in her head. She felt a bit of pain now from her adrenaline rush wearing off while slowly, and forcefully, pushing Lapis to the side. She knocked her off balance and smiled as Pearl leaned into herself. "Fine. But everyone can't come. I don't need a damn entourage following me."

"I'll bring the truck around." Amethyst said grabbing Jasper's keys, her stuff along with Pearl's, and running off.

Garnet turned and threw Lapis over her shoulder as Jasper did while Peridot grabbed all there stuff and followed her. "Will take miss Lazuli."

"I'll drive them home." Greg said taking Rose's hand "You go get that looked at."

Jasper rolled her eyes again as they all dispersed. Jasper took Pearl's hand and started towards the big donut. She was lost in her thoughts as they walked. Jasper never felt herself move so fast in her life. She never felt so scared either. Thinking that Pearl was about to be killed rocked her body. She felt a pain in her chest that she wasn't going to make it to her on time. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if Pearl would of gotten hurt. She just got her not mad at her dammit, she didn't want to have to start all over again!

As they neared the big donut Jasper had to stop walking. Her leg gave a bit as a wave of pain rocked up her side. She grinded her teeth and leaned against the closest building. She closed her eyes and squeezed Pearl's hand as another wave of pain shot up her leg. After a few moments of silence and deep breaths she opened her eyes and looked at Pearl.

Pearl was shaking really bad. She had her hand over her mouth and her eyes, brimming with tears, were glued to Jasper's leg. Her breathing was hitched as she let out a small cry. Jasper frowned as she let go of Pearl's hand and grabbed her face gently. She forced Pearl to look at her as she leaned down. She just stared into Pearl's eyes willing her to believe everything was ok. But it wasn't and they both knew it.

Pearl closed her eyes and shook her head hard as she brought her other hand up to her mouth. Jasper sighed not knowing what to do. The thought of Pearl being sick popped into her mind. Was all this going to trigger her sickness? Was she going to send herself into shock from crying to hard? Jasper felt herself start to panic a bit as Pearl let out another hitched cry. She had to calm her down but she wasn't sure how. She remembered when her or her sister's would be upset or hurt there mom would always hold them and kiss there heads. But Jasper had held Pearl earlier and it didn't do anything for her condition now. She needed to do something more. Something that mite not work. Something she thought was crazy but shrugged it off. Something that she thought was going to make Pearl mad at her later for.

Jasper tilted Pearl's face up to hers. She took a deep breath before pulling Pearl's hands away from her mouth and pressing her lips to Pearl's. Her eyes slid close as she held there lips together gently. After a few moments she pulled away and opened her eyes. Pearl just stared at her in shock. To Jasper's relief she had stopped crying hard. Her tears were a silent stream as she gazed up at Jasper. They stayed like that for a moment before Jasper gently moved her thumbs to wipe the tears from Pearl's eyes. She gave her a weak smile as Pearl blinked. The lilith girl then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Jasper tightly. Jasper did the same and pressed her face into Pearl's hair. She held her close against her body. She felt Pearl's breathing start to slow as she ran her fingers through her peach colored hair a few times.

Neither of them were ready to move when Amethyst started honking the truck horn. Jasper gave Pearl a gentle squeeze before both of them, reluctantly, let each other go. Jasper took Pearl's hand and pulled her towards the truck. As they approached Jasper looked at Amethyst. Her sister had a worried look on her face as Jasper shook her head slightly. They walked around to the passenger side and Jasper helped Pearl into the back seat. After shutting her door she jumped into the passenger seat and soon they were off.

"Jas-"

"Don't." Jasper said cutting her sister off as she reclined the seat all the way back. Pearl had moved to sit in the center and put her seat-belt on as Jasper did the same. She covered her face with her arm to hide the grimace on her lips "She almost went into shock. I don't wanna make it worse for her. Just fake it."

"How bad is it?" Amethyst asked.

Jasper peeked at her sister from under her arm. Amethyst had worry in her voice but a fake smile on her face. She was trying to stay calm but it clearly wasn't working. Jasper moved her free arm to lay it across Pearl's lap, wrapping her fingers around the bottom of her thigh gently. She felt Pearl lay her hands on hers. She was still shaking but it was more of a lite shiver now then the hard trembling she was doing earlier. Jasper smiled to herself as her idea had worked. She was really sure it wasn't. She felt her face turn a little red as she suddenly wanted to do it again.

"Just focus on the road." Jasper hissed as a wave of pain shot up her leg again "Get us there quick. I don't know how calm I can stay right now."

Amethyst did her best to get them to the hospital, all the while Jasper and her were going back and forth about her driving skills. Even in this moment, they still bickered and faught like any other time Jasper's truck was involved.

When they pulled up to the hospital Amethyst dropped both Pearl and Jasper off at the E.R while she went to go find a parking spot. As she pulled away Pearl took Jasper's hand. She literally dragged Jasper, who was straight up limping at this point, through the E.R doors. As they came in the nurse at the desk looked up and immediately spit out her water. She shot out of her seat, after doing something at the desk, and came over quickly to them. She immediately started signing at Pearl as the double doors on the far end of the room opened. Two nurses and a doctor quickly made there way over to the girls. The two nurses started asking Jasper a hundred questions about Pearl as the doctor started signing to Pearl quickly. Pearl was answering the doctor the best she could with one hand for Jasper was death gripping her other one.

Jasper didn't like this. Hospitals left a bad taste in her mouth since her mom Pink pasted. Her and her sisters would do anything to fix what was wrong before coming to a hospital. Just standing in the E.R waiting room was making her jumpy.

Eventually the doctor looked to Jasper after shushing the nurses around them. "Where is your wound?"

Jasper blinked a bit before turning her leg sideways and pointing at it. The doctor sighed at Jasper's crude bandage before telling her to follow her. Jasper, along with Pearl, were quickly lead through the doors the doctor and nurses had appeared through. They were lead down several hallways before they were brought to a room. Jasper was told to sit on the bed and to not move. When she reluctantly let go of Pearl's hand and sat on the bed she saw Pearl was being signed to by the doctor. She looked like she was trying to argue but evidently lost. As the doctor came into the room Pearl was taken away by several nurses and it made Jasper unhappy. She wanted to stay with Pearl. She was worried about her.

"Hello Jasper." the doctor said as she went over to a counter and put on a pair of gloves "I'm Doctor Maheswaran. My daughter tells me you sustained that injury while saving her life."

"Your daughter-ah!" Jasper twitched in pain as the doctor untied her shirt from her leg and had started unwrapping it.

"Pearl is my adoptive daughter. Me and my husband have had trouble having kids ourselves so we adopted."

"Where is she?" Jasper asked coming off more stern then worried causing the doctor to raise her eyebrow in surprise at her tone.

"She is a few doors down, were giving her a once over to make sure she wasn't triggered by what happened. She said you were able to help calm her down but I want to make sure she is in the clear. This looks terrible but its a clean cut." Jasper twitched in pain again as the doctor moved her leg slightly to get a better view of her wound "All we need to do is give you some stitches and you should be good to go."

It took about twenty minutes but Jasper was getting wrapped up as Pearl came into the room. She came to the far side of the bed avoiding her mothers gaze. She perched on the edge of the bed and took Jasper's hand. She squeezed it gently as Jasper focused on the doctors work, trying not to let Pearl see her face turn a bit red. It made her happy to know her kiss had helped, even though it was on impulse to do it. She suddenly hoped that she didn't tell her mom _exactly_ how she calmed her down. The thought just made Jasper turn a few shades darker.

"She seems to really like you." Doctor Maheswaran said finishing up wrapping Jasper's leg "She was arguing with me about getting checked out before I stitched you up. Shes never done that before."

"Is she ok?" Jasper asked.

The doctor raised her eyebrow as she went and discarded her gloves while a nurse walked in and gave her a clipboard. "You just got seventeen stitches in your leg and your worried about her." The doctor said thoughtfully as Jasper gave her a blank look. The doctor then sighed "Yes she is fine, she wouldn't be in here if she wasn't. Your aunts are here to see you. There on their way up"

"You called my aunts?" Jasper felt her stomach do a flip. "For the love of god why?"

"They are your legal guardians no?"

Jasper gave her no answer as Blue Diamond appeared in the doorway. She was a bit hysterical as she came into the room. She immediately hugged Jasper and the giant tried not to groan in response to her tears. She felt Pearl go to take her hand back as she stood but Jasper quickly grabbed it again, giving it a squeeze. She didn't want Pearl to leave right now. She was the only thing keeping Jasper from snapping at her emotional aunt. Pearl sensed this and had sat on the bed again, leaning close to Jasper as her aunt pulled away.

"Oh Jasper!" Blue breathed out leaning back to Jasper's release "Rose called us. We herd you got hurt on the boardwalk and that you were almost crushed. Oh!"

Blue went to hug Jasper again but a stern voice behind her stopped her next unwanted embrace. Jasper looked to see Yellow Diamond standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed and a frown was on her face. It suddenly turned to a smile when she saw the doctor.

"Priyanka." Yellow said holding her hand out to Doctor Maheswaran "Its nice to see you again."

"Its been too long Yellow." The doctor said shaking her hand "How have you been?"

"Good." Yellow answered before glaring at Jasper. "I hope my niece hasn't caused too much trouble for you."

Jasper grinned her teeth together. Pearl squeezed her hand gently as the doctor answered "On the contrary. She saved my daughters life."

Yellow and Blue both looked at Jasper in surprise and Jasper couldn't help but look a little smug back. Her aunts always viewed her as a trouble maker. The doctor's words putting them in there place a bit made her happy. She felt Pearl breath out a small laugh as her shoulder twitched for a moment against her own, causing her to smile a little bigger at her aunts.

"Really?" Yellow looked like she didn't believe the doctor.

"Several witnesses saw it happen. I am very grateful that Jasper was close enough to save my daughter. I don't know what would of happened of she didn't reach her in time." The doctor went to add something else but shook her head before turning to walk out the door "She is free to leave now if you wish to take her home."

"Her sister is down in the lobby, she will leave with her." Yellow said turning and following the doctor out "Come on Blue."

After they all left the room Jasper groaned and let go of Pearl's hand. She ran her hands over her face and into her mess of hair on her head, pushing strands out of her eyes. As she dropped her hands back to her lap she felt Pearl touch her arm gently. She looked to see Pearl had a worried expression on her face. Jasper in turn just smiled gently at her. She reached up and brushed a strand of Pearl's hair from her face before leaning forward and kissing her forehead. She chuckled a bit as Pearl's cheeks turn red.

"Cute." Jasper murmured as she brushed her fingers across Pearl's burning cheeks, causing them to burn more. Jasper dropped her hand and looked to the door as she herd loud foot steps and arguing coming down the hall.

Peridot and Amethyst soon appeared in the doorway with Garnet a few steps behind them. Garnet waved as the other two came in and right over to the pair on the bed.

"Hows it feel?" Peridot asked as Amethyst wiggled her eyebrows at her sister. "Herd the nurses talking about it. Seventeen stitches. Nice going gigantor."

"Seems you two are just fiiiiine." Amethyst teased as she took in Pearl's red face.

Jasper rolled her eyes in response and got off the bed as her sister laughed at her annoyed face. "Lets go."

As they headed out the room Jasper paused in the doorway. She looked back to see Pearl still perched on the bed, looking at her hands. She felt her own face turn a little red as Pearl looked up at her after a moment. She really did like her. She didn't want to admit it but the others were right. It made her face twitch in annoyance for a moment as she walked back into the room. She didn't like when the others were right about her feelings.

Jasper walked back over to the bed and offered Pearl her hand. Pearl looked down at her outstretched hand before looking back up at Jasper. Jasper gave her a small smile which was enough for Pearl to reach up and twist her fingers with Jasper's. They slowly made there way down the various halls until they were in the main lobby. Both girls were left there to wait as the others went to get the truck. They both stood there in silence, holding each others hands, and were content in that moment. As the truck rolled up Jasper suddenly had a thought. She went over and took a pen from the front desk and came back over to Pearl. Pearl looked at her funny as Jasper took her arm and wrote something down on it. When she was done she put the pen behind Pearl's ear and gave her a wink before walking(limping) out the doors.

'859-xxx-xxxx text me'


	5. Chapter 5

The next three weeks at school were torture for Jasper. Word spread around school pretty quick about what had happened. That's not what bothered her though. What bothered her was she wasn't allowed to do any sports or extra curricular activities. It was driving her crazy. The only pulse side to it all was Pearl. She got to spend a lot more time with her around and after school, minus the four days she was absent due to not feeling well and being in the hospital just as a precaution. They had gotten very close. They would hold hands around school and such but they weren't officially together. Every time one of them would work up the courage to ask the other out they would falter and end up not saying anything. On top of not being able to ask each other out Jasper's sisters and there friends would tease them relentlessly about it. At the same time, Lapis was in a pissing contest with Jasper for Pearl's attention and was getting mad about slowly loosing. She would try to swipe Pearl to hang with her most days but only successfully did it once. On top of that, after learning what happened while she was trashed at the beach party, it only made her more determined.

After school, as Jasper was walking with Pearl to the parking lot, they were talking back and forth via Pearl's notebook. It was nice because Lapis was at swim practice and Jasper didn't have to fight for Pearl's attention. She was enjoying the peace.

'So I'm thinking about skipping tomorrow'

Pearl had a look of shock on her face at Jasper's words.

'It's not good to skip! You'll get in so much trouble'

'It's good to take a day to your self once in a while'

'I don't see a point'

'Where's your sense of adventure?'

'I've had plenty of adventure at that beach party thank you very much'

'If you change your mind let me know.'

'I don't think I will'

'Just know, you can spend the night as well'

'Oh please. You can't bribe me with that'

Pearl tried to look stern about her words but her face gave her away in a layer of red. Jasper didn't mean for it to come off as a bribe but she did want Pearl to spend the night. They would text a lot and thought it would be easier to be next to each other instead of apart. Also Jasper liked the idea of spending more time with her then just at school.

'It's not a bribe. Consider it the path to a care free day'

'Care free... I can't remember the last time I was care free'

'Remember, there's always more to life then hospital visits and being a good all the time. Learn to live a little.'

Pearl looked up at Jasper as she tapped Pearl's wrist still dawning the hospital bracelet. She winked down at her before stopping at the back doors leading to the parking lot. It was pouring down outside and Jasper frowned. She knew Pearl would wait for her dad to come and pick her up. Usually she would wait with her with the others but today wasn't going to be that kinda day. Jasper heard the others walking up behind them as she took Pearl's notebook again.

'Can I drive you home now?'

Jasper was a bit teasing with her question. She usually asked Pearl everyday, even though her answer was always no. She would ask because it made Pearl smile a bit each time so when she suddenly said yes it threw Jasper.

'Really?'

'Yea, let me just text my dad real fast'

Jasper couldn't help but smile as Peridot poked her. "Hey, did you ever give her those hearing aids?"

"What? Oh, no, not yet." Jasper said.

"What?!" Peridot snapped smacking Jasper's arm. "I went through a lot of trouble to fix those you big ape! Why haven't you given those to her yet!"

"I wanna give it to her at the right time!" Jasper snapped back flicking Peridot's forehead making her yell. "Butt out!"

"Clod!"

"Runt!"

They went back and forth for a bit before Amethyst laughed from behind them. She then pushed between them, turning on her heals as Pearl turned to look at them, as she smiled.

"When you two are done being a married couple can we get going? I got a date tonight and I wanna _NOT_ smell like oppression." Amethyst said gesturing around her "And besides, Pearly here looks confused at your annoyed faces."

Jasper glanced at Pearl for a second before her and Peridot grumbled, looking away. Pearl did look a bit confused, mostly because she saw the tail end of there argument and couldn't read lips to well. She walked over to Jasper and looped there arms together with a smile, causing the bigger girl to turn a bit red. Jasper and Peridot bickered back and forth for a bit as they dropped Pearl off at her place then Peridot at hers. Amethyst was laughing the whole time from the front seat.

The next morning Jasper knocked her alarm off the nightstand again as it rang in her ear. She got up, throwing on nothing but a baggy shirt and shorts, and shuffled out of her room. She yawned and leaned against her door-frame as Rose skipped by talking on the phone to Greg. Amethyst opened her door and rubbed her eyes as she groaned.

"Do you ever stop talking to him?" She said as Rose went by.

"Only when her face is in a pillow." Jasper added.

Amethyst snorted as Rose flipped them off, heading down the stairs.

"Just because your single and ready to mingle doesn't mean you can rain on my parade." Rose called behind her.

"Nah, you rain on yourself enough with all your moaning!" Jasper threw back at her.

Both sister laughed as Rose yelled at them to get bent form the bottom floor. They kept laughing as Rose opened the front door and greeted Greg. Jasper turned to Amethyst when she could breath again. "Skip day?"

Amethyst smiled brightly and punched the air. "Yes! finally! What are we doing?"

"Going to school." Jasper said "We gotta let our aunt see us first before we bail."

"That's fair." Amethyst said shrugging.

Both sister disappeared to there rooms to get ready. The whole time Jasper was texting Pearl to see if she wanted to come with them.

J: Do you still not wanna skip with us today?

P-girl: I am fairly certain.

J: Well you got till the end of homeroom to change your mind.

P-girl: So your not skipping?

J: I am, gonna grab Peridot on the way out to first period then run for it with Ame. Gotta be seen to give us a bit of a head start before my aunt starts calling and flipping out.

P-girl: Oh please. You're going to get caught

J: Not with that attitude

Jasper smiled as she grabbed her backpack, seeing that Pearl sent a emoji with its tonged sticking out at her. She liked making Pearl a little mad, her pouting face was cute. On there way to school they texted Peridot bout skipping and with a lot of arguing she unwillingly agreed to join them. Rolling up to school, on time surprisingly, the sisters walked into school in the crowd of other students.

"Did you convince Pearl to join us?" Amethyst asked as they walked to there lockers.

"Nah, think I made her a bit mad that I'm skipping."

"Man she is so stiff."

Jasper didn't respond as she saw Pearl. She went to wave at her but frowned instead when she saw Lapis standing with her. She was leaning really close to Pearl and holding her hand, making the giant a bit jealous. She was smiling at Pearl's red face as they talked through Pearl's notebook. Jasper knew she had no right to be jealous because they weren't a official couple but she couldn't help it. Every time she saw Lapis all over Pearl like that she just wanted to... well she didn't like it.

When Lapis saw Jasper headed there way, for they were in front of her locker, she pulled Pearl away down the hall. Jasper couldn't help but grumble as her sister snickered next to her.

"Looks like she is stepping up her game." Amethyst said turning to walk down to her own locker "Good luck with that."

Jasper couldn't help but feel a bit sour till she walked into her homeroom. As she took her seat Peridot turned to talk to her. Sugalite and Malachite were in the middle of an arm wrestling match and Jasper couldn't help but laugh a bit at it.

"So what's the plan?" Peridot said frowning "Since you insisted I take a day off my good attendance record."

"Boardwalk." Jasper said before thumbing at the other two "I'd ask them but there out of skip days."

They both glared at Jasper as Malachite spoke "Yea, we skip again its our heads on a roll out of our sports."

"Do me a favor." Jasper said leaning in close "Drown Lapis in the pool."

"Why? She getting in the way of your girlfriend." Sugalite poked fun at Jasper who couldn't help but smile.

"I'm not agreeing or disagreeing." Jasper said with a laugh.

They all snorted and hit Jasper in the arm. They joked till the bell rang. Jasper practically ran out of the classroom, dragging Peridot behind her. Its been a few months since she skipped school at all, and at least a month since she's gotten into some sort of trouble. Seemed like her time was up, little mischief needed. They stopped at both there lockers before heading toward the gym. As they walked Amethyst joined them, hopping along next to them.

"Excited?" Peridot asked Amethyst and the shorter girl ran a few steps ahead and turned to face them, walking backwards.

"Hell yea!" Amethyst said with a big dopey smile. "Gonna be so much fun. We can hit the arcade, then get ice-cream and go swimming. Oh oh!"

Amethyst babbled on happily as the trio walked down the empty hallway towards the parking lot doors. As they walked outside Jasper felt her phone buzz. She fished it out of her pocket and smiled big.

P-girl: ...Did you leave yet?

J: Nah just about too why? You actually going to join us?

P-girl: Yea

Jasper laughed as the other two looked at her funny. "Guess who decided to join us?"

Jasper tossed Amethyst her keys as she got another text from Pearl. "No way, how did you get her to agree?" Her sister asked.

"I didn't. She just said she is coming along."

P-girl: Wait for me, I'm on my way.

J: I'm at the door, gonna have to walk pretty fast to get here.

P-girl: Jasper!

Jasper couldn't help but smile at her phone as she stopped walking and leaned on the building.

J: I'm waiting, I'm waiting. Relax.

"I'll meet you at the car." Jasper said to the others as they walked on ahead. "Gonna wait for her."

"I call radio!" Peridot said running off into the parking lot.

"No way! Were **NOT** doing another round of your K-pop garbage!" Amethyst said running after her. "Were listening to Metal!"

"We always listen to metal you clod!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Jasper rolled her eyes at them as she put her phone back in her pocket. She ran her fingers through her hair before glancing back into the building. A smile spread across her face as she saw Pearl round the far end of the hallway. Jasper opened the door and leaned against it, holding it open as Pearl made her way towards her. Her smile quickly faded as she got a good look at Pearl's face, causing her to stop leaning on the door. She was wiping a few tears from her eyes, not looking up from the floor. As Pearl got closer Jasper could see that she looked a bit disheveled. When Pearl came right up to her, she wrapped her arms around Jasper tight as the giant opened them for her. Jasper wrapped one arm around her small frame as the other took the notebook from Pearl's hand. She opened it, plucking the pencil form Pearl's ear, and wrote to her.

'What's wrong?'

Pearl only glanced at the question before shaking her head and putting it back into Jasper's shirt. This made the giant frown with another question.

'What happened? Did someone hurt you?'

When Pearl didn't answer Jasper's frown deepened.

'Who was it?'

No answer.

'Pearl'

Pearl took the notebook and pencil, still leaning against Jasper. While she wrote her response Jasper looked up to see Lapis turn the corner towards them. The blue haired girl frowned and sighed when she saw Jasper with Pearl. As she started towards them Jasper felt Pearl freeze up. She looked down to see a scared look on Pearl's face as she held the notebook tight in her hands.

'Lapis took me to the bathroom earlier and kissed me. She put her hands up my shirt and... I pushed her away and signed no but she wouldn't listen... She didn't stop till I ran.'

Jasper looked up to Lapis slow, her eyes burning in her head. Her gaze had Lapis freeze in place. Pearl put her pencil in Jasper's hand but Jasper didn't look down at her. Her hands were balled into fists. Her eyes were on fire. She pushed off the door, using one arm to move Pearl off to the side, her hand snapping the pencil in its grasp. Lapis figured out pretty quick what Pearl had said and she put her hands up.

"Now Jasper, we can talk about this." Lapis said backing up slowly. "No need to get angry."

"You better star running." Jasper hissed through her teeth.

When Lapis didn't immediately move Jasper made her. She took her bag off and threw it against the floor hard, jarring Lapis from her frozen state. As she ran around the corner Jasper took a few steps after her. She was stopped by Pearl's sudden arms around her waist. Her hands were shaking as she looked back at the slim girl. She was shaking her head up at Jasper and it made her mad. Did she seriously want Jasper to let Lapis go? After making Pearl cry and touching her when she didn't want her too? How was she just supposed to let something like this go?!

Pearl picked her broken pencil off the floor and scribbled a note that made Jasper yell.

'It doesn't matter. Lets just go.'

"Doesn't matter?" Jasper hissed "No one should touch you like that!"

Jasper threw her hands up in anger before kicking her bag into the wall. She growled in frustration before taking Pearl's broken pencil and writing down a note quickly.

'She **EVER** touches you again like that I'll break her fucking neck. _No one_ should put there hands on you without your permission'

Jasper didn't wait for Pearl to say something else. She bent down and snatched her bag from the floor. Throwing it over her shoulder she grabbed Pearl's hand and pulled her out into the parking lot. After a few angry steps Jasper stopped and sighed. She grinded her teeth together as she looked up at the sky. She had to stop getting so angry. Not that Lapis didn't dissever it though. She turned to Pearl and took her notebook and broken pencil from her.

'Are you ok? Did she hurt you?'

She gave Pearl back her notebook for her response.

'I'm ok. No, I pushed her away before she got into my pants'

'If she try's again just scream and I'll beat her into the ground.'

Jasper frowned and grumbled about her poor word choices before adding more.

'I don't like seeing you cry.'

Jasper tucked Pearl's broken pencil into the rings of her notebook before reaching up and brushing away a stray tear from her eye. She hated when Pearl was upset. It made her just want to hold her till she felt better. Only after Jasper had Pearl blushing from lightly stroking her fingers across her cheek did Jasper smile. She took Pearl's hand and took her over to her truck. As they got close they could see Peridot pouting in the back seat with Amethyst rocking out in the front singing loudly.

" _Whoa, if your here you know_." Amethyst sang " _We got more drama then HBO_."

Jasper couldn't help but laugh as they got close. She could feel her blood getting pumped as they came up to the truck. She opened the back door and helped Pearl inside before shutting it a little too hard in excitement.

" _And fuck front row seats_." Amethyst sang as Jasper joined in, opening the drivers side door and hopping in " _We're the show."_

" _So step into the scene if your ready to go_!" They both shouted.

Jasper threw her seat belt on and was getting more pumped as her truck came to life. She looked back at the others with a smile. "Ready?!" She yelled over the music. She didn't wait for a response as she hit the gas and Amethyst screamed in excitement next to her. They roared out of the parking lot loudly laughing as they sang along to the music. This song always got them hyped up and ready to take on the world. I was like nothing could stop them. No matter how angry or upset they would get, this song would always bring them back to there happy place.

" _Ari, Ari, Ari_!" They sang as the roared down the street " _Ari, Ari, Ari! Ve Tri Meri Ek Jindadi_!"

Peridot was headbanging in the back seat and Pearl was smiling ear to ear, clapping along. The energy was electrified in the car as they roared through there town.

" _Le Ke Lut Jind Saari Ki Teri Meri_!"

Peridot yelled about stopping at Pearl's place so she could get something and Jasper shot her a thumbs up, whipping the truck around the corner to go to her house.

" _Ek Jindadi_!" Amethyst screamed headbanging hard. Jasper was beating on the steering wheel as Peridot joined in the headbanging with her sister. Pearl was laughing from the back seat at there display but looked happier then earlier which made Jasper happy. As they rolled to a stop in front of Pearl's house she signed to Peridot that she would be right back. As she jumped out of the car and ran around the back of her house the others couldn't help but smile.

"I'm gonna give her the hearing aids today." Jasper said turning to the other two in the truck.

"No way?" Amethyst said reaching over and turning down the radio just enough to be able to hear with shouting. "Are you serious?"

"Finally." Her best friend said.

"...And I'm gonna ask her out."

Jasper frowned while her face turned red as her sister and best friend laughed at her. "Shut up."

"Bout time!" Amethyst said "Ugh you two, I swear."

Jasper was going to say something them Pearl came running out of her back yard. She looked worried but had a smile on her face. She ran around the truck and yanked the door open. She threw a backpack to Peridot as she climbed in. As she shut the door she started frantically signing to them.

"Is she ok?" Jasper asked looking from Peridot to Pearl.

"She says her dad was home." Peridot said. "And that- what?"

"What-"

"Aw man!" Amethyst said pointing out the window.

"Go go go!" Peridot yelled as Pearl grabbed her shoulder. Jasper hit the gas as a figure started coming around from the back of the house. As they flew down the street Pearl threw her hands up and laughed, causing the others to join her as Amethyst turned the music up again.

When they made it to the beach they walked around for a bit, looking at shops and enjoying there freedom till Amethyst dragged them over to the arcade.

"Aw man!" Amethyst said running forward and jumping up onto a game. "They finally put one in here. Lets play!"

She was standing on a dance dance revolution machine with a big grin on her face. As they all came up to her Peridot volunteered to dance with her first. They all dropped there stuff as Amethyst shoved money into the game and was looking though the songs. Jasper was holding Pearl's hand as she looked down at her. Pearl was looking at the game and seemed a little sad. This caused Jasper to take her notebook from her hands.

'What's wrong? Did you wanna go first?'

'No, that's alright. I'll just watch.'

"Just pick a song already!"

"I'm working on it Peridactal!"

'It's no fun to just watch'

'It's no fun if you can't hear it either.'

Jasper felt her mood drop a bit as Pearl closed her notebook and took Jasper's hand again. She looked sad as she looked to there two friends and there bickering. Jasper ran her thumb over the back of Pearl's hand before a spark hit her brain. She smiled big suddenly and let go of Pearl's hand. Pearl jumped a bit as Jasper yanked her bag off the ground and started shuffling through it. As Amethyst finally picked a song Jasper told her to wait.

"What for?" Peridot said turning to look at her and Pearl "She finally picked one!"

Jasper sprang up with the black box in her hand and a big dopey smile on her face. Peridot blinked in understanding and Amethyst snickered. Pearl just looked confused as Jasper held the box out to her. Pearl went to open her notebook but Jasper took it from her hand and offered the box to her instead. Pearl turned slightly and signed to Peridot who just shrugged and gestured for her to take the box.

"She asked what was in it." Peridot translated as Pearl looked back to Jasper then to Peridot again.

"Just tell her to open it." Jasper said. She was practically jumping out of her skin in excitement. She really was hoping that Pearl would like them. She wanted to make her smile so much and just make her happy. She was hoping that the hearing aids would do both.

Peridot translated and Pearl frowned a bit. She looked at Jasper curiously as she took the box. Jasper was all smiles as Pearl opened it slowly. The look of confusion on her face made Jasper laugh. She slowly picked up one of the hearing aids in her hand, turning it over to look at it. When she looked back up at Jasper's smiling face it made the giants heart skip a beat. She looked down at the box and back up at her as she pointed to her self. Jasper nodded as she took the aid from Pearl's hand. She made the Lilith girls face red as she leaned down and carefully hooked it onto Pearl's ear, with Pearl's help of course. After both were in place Jasper looked her in the eyes.

"Pearl?" She said gently. When Pearl gave her a blank look Jasper frowned. She straightened up and put her hands on her hips, looking to Peridot. "Hey Peri, I don't think there working."

"Are you sure?"

"Yea I-"

Pearl's hand on Jasper's made her stop mid-word. She looked down at Pearl who was staring up at her. Jasper panicked a bit when a tear fell down Pearl's cheek.

"Pearl?" Jasper asked worried.

Before she could say anything else Pearl started laughing and crying at the same time. After a few moments of this Pearl pointed to herself, up to her ear, then at Jasper. Jasper smiled big as Pearl covered her mouth.

"You can hear me?" Jasper said.

When Pearl nodded her head Jasper couldn't help but yell yes in excitement. She pulled Pearl into her arms, the smaller girl wrapping her arms around her neck, and spun her around in a circle. They were laughing so loud that Jasper never wanted this moment to end. Seeing Pearl happy made her just want to kiss her. That thought though made Jasper put Pearl down. Before she could say a word Pearl grabbed the front of Jasper's shirt and pulled her forward, placing a peck on her cheek. Her sister whooped in excitement as Pearl pulled away and laughed at Jasper's red face.

Jasper looked away for a moment before her smile returned to her face. "Did you wanna play now?" Jasper said thumbing the dance machine, trying to distract them all from her red face.

"Yea after I kick your butt!" Amethyst said with a smirk.

"Oh your on!" Jasper said.

All three girls danced away as Pearl stood to the side watching and clapping along. After a few rounds Jasper looked over and winked at her. "Wanna join in now?"

When Pearl shook her head Jasper smirked at her "Its ok, I wouldn't want to loose to me either." She said teasing her.

Peridot laughed as Pearl huffed, crossing her arms. She took a few steps forward and shooed Jasper to the other side as she stepped up, kicking her shoes off. Jasper couldn't help but smile at Pearl's annoyed face as she shifted through for a song to play. Amethyst was standing off to the side jumping up and down before she spoke up. "Pick a hard song! Lets show off those curves Pearly!"

Pearl's face turned a deep red as she glared at Amethyst but you could see she was rolling the idea around in her head. She shifted through a few more songs before she settled on a K-pop song. Peridot snickered as both sister groaned. They would never think Pearl would pick one of Peridot's favorite songs. Deciding to be cocky still Jasper told her to pick the difficulty, not expecting Pearl to turn it all the way up.

"Are you sure?" Jasper said as the game started.

"She said try to keep up." Peridot translated the sass coming from Pearl's fingertips. Jasper rolled her eyes and winked at Pearl as the song started.

" _BlackPink in your area_." The song sang as It started off pretty slow. " _BlackPink in your area."_

By the time the first chorus hit the arrows were coming faster and faster down the screen. They only thing in the arcade that could be heard was Jasper and Pearl's feet jumping all around the dance dance revolution machine. Amethyst was recording the dance on her phone as Peridot danced off to the side doing what the dancers were doing on the screen.

" _Boombayah!"_

Jasper was doing a good job keeping up with Pearl. She found this version difficult but not too hard. When Jasper looked over she couldn't believe her eyes. Pearl was not only hitting every arrow that flashed across the screen but she was also doing the dance with the k-poppers as well. She was smiling and singing along as she moved. Jasper couldn't help but stop and stair at her. She looked so happy. Her voice sounded so pretty. It made Jasper wish she could hear Pearl talk all the time. She could get lost in her eyes and movements in this moment.  
" _Yea yea yea Boombayah!"_ Pearl sang " _Yea yea yea boombay-ah-yah-yah-yah!"_

The way Pearl moved her hips and flung her body around was hypnotizing. She moved as if there wasn't any dance she couldn't master. Pearl didn't realizes Jasper was staring at her until the song ended. They just kinda stared at each other in shock. Jasper realized that Pearl didn't realize that she was singing the whole time, and that Jasper had heard her. Before they could say anything Amethyst jumped up and hugged the slender girl. "Pearl that was amazing!"

Pearl signed 'thank you' to Amethyst as the small girl twisted around and picked another song. "You gotta dance again! I got the perfect song too!" Amethyst didn't give the girls a choice as the next song started. She stood off to the side as the song started. "Kick her butt Pearl!"

Jasper flipped her sister off as they started dancing again. The song Amethyst picked was fun and easy to dance with. It was a basic staple in the party world. There was no party that didn't play this song at least once.

 _"Shots shots shots shots shots shots shots!"_ The music shouted at them. " _Everybody!"_

Jasper and Pearl were all smiles as they threw there body's around dancing to beat. As soon as Pearl started dancing with the dancers on screen Jasper did the same, determined to show off.

" _If your feeling drunk put ya hands in the air_!"

Peridot was yelling and jumping around with Amethyst.

_"And if your tryin' fuck put ya hands in the air!"_

As the song neared the end all four girls were yelling and singing along. The lights flashed on the game as there score crept higher and higher. There body's jumped and moved in smooth rhythms with the base. The air was filled with positive energy as both Jasper and Pearl did a dramatic pose with the dancers on screen with the last note. They couldn't help but laughed as Jasper punched the air. They had both gotten high scores but Pearl beat Jasper by two points. She smiled at Pearl who was clapping her hands and jumping up and down a bit smiling ear to ear. She turned to Jasper and wrapped her arms around her tight. Jasper smiled down at her as they stepped off the game and gathered there stuff.

"That was awesome P!" Amethyst said jumping around them as Pearl took Jasper's hand. They all wondered out of the arcade slowly and walked a bit before Peridot mentioned wanting ice-cream. Pearl's face light up at the thought and they all laughed at her a bit. After they had gotten there ice-cream they were all sitting on the edge of the boardwalk, feet swinging off the side, looking out at the ocean. They were laughing and talking when Amethyst got an idea.

Amethyst leaned over and grabbed her sisters shirt, pulling her back behind Pearl to whisper in her ear. "Wanna cause a little mischief?"

"What do you have in mind?" Jasper asked in a hushed tone as Peridot asked Pearl something.

"Angry unicorn."

Jasper snorted and smiled at her sister. When they sat up Jasper got Pearl's attention while Amethyst got Peridot's.

"Do you know what an angry unicorn is?" Jasper asked as she took a lick of her ice-cream cone. When Pearl shook her head no the giant smiled and leaned close to her. "Wanna find out?"

Pearl raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded yes. To this Jasper smiled. She took a big lick of her ice-cream then turned it and stuck it to Pearl's forehead. With an audible gasp Pearl sat there, mouth open, staring at Jasper. Before she could move Peridot yelled at Amethyst for doing the same thing to her. In seconds Jasper and Amethyst had gotten to there feet, with there stuff, and started running in opposite directions.

"Wait till I get my hands on you you clod!" Peridot screeched as her and Pearl scrambled to there feet to give chase.

Jasper was laughing as Pearl chased her. She was keeping a light jog ahead of the slender girl as she jumped down the steps to the beach and then under the boardwalk itself. She moved to lean against a support post as Pearl's footsteps were heard over her head then moving down the stairs. As Pearl ran by her Jasper reached out and grabbed her arm. She smiled more as Pearl yelped in surprise before being pulled right to Jasper. The giant laughed at Pearl's annoyed expression as she hit her arm. Pearl started signing quickly but Jasper wasn't really paying attention to that. She was focused on the fact of Pearl being right up against her. Her slender frame just pushing into her own lightly. Her beautiful eyes just inches away.

Jasper ran a finger over Pearl's cheek before getting an evil look. She tilted Pearl's face to the side and licked a small bead of ice-cream that was moving down her temple. The motion made Pearl's fingers grind to a halt and red bloom across her cheeks. Jasper leaned back, her own face a bit red, as she ran her thumb over Pearl's now burning cheeks again.

"Cute." Jasper mumbled as Pearl's fingers gently moved to her hand on her face, making Jasper's heart beat a little faster. She couldn't help but get lost in Pearl's crystal blue eyes. Even though the sky was a few feet away she was happy looking at it through Pearl's instead.

The wind blew gently around them as Pearl made the first move. She let go of Jasper's hand to run her fingers up her arm and to Jasper's face. She traced her jaw line gently with her nail before moving and tucking a strand of hair behind the giants ear. She left her hand in Jasper's hair as she leaned up, slightly on her toes, to get closer to her. Jasper moved at the same time. She leaned down and soon felt there lips press together. Her eyes slid closed as Pearl's lips moved against her own. They were so soft and gentle that it made Jasper's heart beat like crazy. Pearl's hands found there way around Jasper's neck as Jasper's own hand found there way around Pearl's waist. She held Pearl close as she kissed her a little rougher. She felt Pearl let out a small moan and it made Jasper chuckle a bit into there kisses.

They stayed like that for a few moments before they could hear Amethyst and Peridot calling there names. Pulling apart felt like the hardest thing ever as they silently separated. Both there faces were red and they couldn't look at each other for more then a few moments at a time. Jasper eventually took a breath and smiled at Pearl. "I'd love to do that again sometime."

Pearl's response was to lace her fingers with Jasper's and smile at her. She pulled out her phone and typed something before turning it around. 'We can tonight, since I'm staying over and... maybe more'

It was Jasper's turn to be shocked as Pearl let out a laugh. She put her phone in her pocket before pulling Jasper behind her and walking up onto the boardwalk. The pair couldn't help but chucked at Peridot's annoyed face as they got close. She had ice-cream in her hair and smudged across her glasses. She was grumbling about Amethyst being a clod when the purple haired girl wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "It was funny Perri."

"I don't see how shoving frozen dairy products onto my forehead is funny." Peridot said crossing her arms.

"Aww lighten up." Amethyst said shoving her playfully. She was going to say something else but her phone started buzzing in her pocket. As she looked at her phone, turning away to answer it, Pearl pulled a napkin out of her bag and offered it to Peridot. "Hey babe I was just gonna- what? Are you for real?!... Aw man, ok thanks!"

Amethyst whirled around in a panic to face the group "Our aunts are coming to the house!"

"Scale of one to ten." Jasper said as she started toward the parking lot "How fucked are we?"

"Fucking twelve!" Amethyst shouted running by her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The songs playing:  
> Ari Ari - BloodyWood : This is one of my favorite songs to listen too. It wanted to portray the sisters getting hyped up from this song because it hypes me up when I'm feeling down.  
> Black Pink - Boombayah & Shots - LMFAO : This is a favorite of mine in the K-pop world along with the party song Shots. I had a lot of trouble picking just two songs for them to dance too in the arcade. I had my choies of 5 songs that took me forever to shrink down to the two I picked. I hop I portrayed just how much fun and dancing they had done to the songs as it was to think about them as I wrote.


	6. Chapter 6

The three of them, minus Peridot who decided to get out a few blocks back to walk home, had made it back to the house in record time. As they screeched to a stop in the driveway the Quartz sisters breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of there aunts cars not being here yet. As they hopped out Amethyst jumped in excitement. "Man that was close!"

Jasper looked up but froze for a second before cursing. "Not close enough!"

She grabbed Amethyst and Pearl's hands as she spied her aunts car on the horizon. She yanked them around the side of the house and, not so gently, picked them up and threw them over the privacy fence. She heard Amethyst yell in protest and Pearl huff in annoyance as they landed with a bang. As Jasper jumped the fence and landed next to them she saw that she had unintentionally threw them into there open trashcans that had tipped over from there landing. She didn't listen to her sisters protest as she yanked them to there feet. They rounded the house and stopped just below Rose's window.

"Go, She's pulling up out-front." Jasper said as a car door could be heard closing loudly.

Amethyst needed no more motivation. She turned and quickly started climbing the side of the house. There mom had built and grew a living wall of plants on the back of there house. The sisters had just let it grow after there mom passed so now it was like climbing up a tree with thousands of roses all over it. The plants were rooted in place against the house and held firm.

As Amethyst neared the top Jasper gave Pearl a nudge. When she didn't move right away Jasper roller her eyes. She knelled down, pulling Pearl back to sit on her shoulder, and then stood up. She ignored Pearl's gasp as she walked over to the wall. She then placed one hand under Pearl's foot and, pulling Pearl off her shoulder, balanced her on her hand and held her up towards the window. If they weren't in a rush to get inside Pearl's panicked flailing would of been cute.

Amethyst dove through Rose's window and twisted back around to see Pearl grab onto the house siding in a panic. She reached down for Pearl and took her shaking hand. She helped pull her through the window as Jasper quickly climbed up. As she fell through the window they herd the front door bang open.

"Where are they?!" There aunt Yellow's voice echoed through the house.

Jasper quickly got to her feet as Amethyst pulled Pearl towards the door. As she yanked it open they could hear heavy foot falls coming up the stairs. Amethyst let go of Pearl's hand and ran/tiptoed to her room and disappeared inside. Jasper had taken two steps into the hallway when there aunts hand appeared on the top of the railing. In one motion she twisted around and pushed Pearl back into Rose's room and onto her butt. She gave her a sorry look while shutting the door and jumping across the hall and into her own room. As there aunt made it onto the landing Jasper scrambled across her room. She threw her bag down and started taking her cloths off, looking for something she would sleep in, as she herd her aunt stop at Amethyst's door and open it. She quickly hopped over a pail of cloths on the floor and threw herself onto her bed as her aunt's footsteps came to her door next. She dove under the covers and laid face down as her door flew open.

Jasper tried to keep her breathing even as her aunt flicked on her light. She closed her eyes tight, turning her face into her pillow. She felt like her aunt was going to start yelling at her when her light flicked off and her door shut suddenly. She groaned into her pillow hard and tried not to laugh as her aunt started talking to her sister Rose.

"I told you they weren't feeling good." Rose said right outside the door. "That's why they left early."

"That doesn't explain why Peridot left with them."

 _Did she not see Pearl leave too?_ Jasper thought. _Sweet baby Jesus we just got away with murder._

"She had a family thing she had to do." Rose said. She could hear Rose shuffling there aunt down the hallway "You know how it goes."

"Yes well, me and my sisters will be over to talk to you three tomorrow."

As there aunt was heard shuffling down the stairs with Rose, Jasper slowly got up out of bed. She tiptoed over to the door, picking up a unbuttoned shirt and throwing it on her frame unbuttoned, she slowly twisted the handle and cracked her door open. She then slowly leaned her head out into the hallway to see Amethyst and surprisingly Pearl doing the same thing. They all looked to the stairs as they heard Rose close the front door with a laugh and a goodbye. Pearl slowly came out of Rose's room and over to Jasper as Rose was heard coming up the stairs.

Both Amethyst and Jasper couldn't help but snicker at Rose's annoyed face as she rounded the top of the stairs. She was going to say something but lost the thought when she saw Pearl in the middle of the hallway.

"Oh, Hi Pearl." Rose said while signing to Pearl.

Jasper assumed Pearl said hi in return as Amethyst came out of her room, followed by her girlfriend Garnet.

"You guys are in a lot of shit Monday." Rose said crossing her arms. "You both owe me your souls."

"Yes your majesty." Amethyst said as both sisters dramatically bowed at Rose. Pearl covered a small laugh as Garnet wrapped her arms around Amethyst's waist as they both straightened up. Rose rolled her eyes as a smile spread across her face.

"I don't even want to _know_ how you got Pearl to come along on your renegade adventure today." Rose said walking over to her room.

With a smile Jasper took Pearl's hand and pulled her into her room. She flicked on her light and shut the door, pushing stuff aside with her foot, as they made there way into the room.

"Feel free to drop your stuff anywhere." Jasper said as she plopped down on the floor, grabbing a game controller. "And get comfy, your about to learn how to play a game I'm good at."

Pearl rolled her eyes as she set her stuff aside. Jasper was setting up a second controller when Pearl sat down next to her. For the next few hours they played several shooting games. After some time Pearl had gotten fed up with the games and constantly losing. She eventually settled into Jasper's lap to watch her play. Jasper had her arms around Pearl loosely as she played. She had her head resting on Pearl's as the slender girl was drawing lazy circles on her knee. To say it was a distraction was an understatement. When the sun finally went down Pearl had gotten up to go to the bathroom. While she was gone Jasper cleaned up a bit as she threw her own cloths on to sleep in. Usually she slept in just boxers but tonight she felt like wearing a shirt as well was going to be more appropriate.

Jasper was sitting on the floor again, scrolling through Netflix for something to watch, when Pearl came back in. Jasper's fingers froze on the controller as her face turned red. Pearl was in a baggy shirt that hung off her one shoulder and shorts so short she could see all of Pearl's slender legs. She had never seen Pearl show so much skin before. Even at the beach party she was mostly covered. Jasper cleared her throat and looked away as Pearl shut the door and came over to her. Jasper couldn't help but look at Pearl again as she sat on Jasper's lap once more. This time however she sat sideways, looking at Jasper then her hands. After a few moments of this Jasper asked if she was ok.

Pearl pulled out her phone and typed something quickly, not looking at Jasper as she read it.

'I would like to do what we did under the boardwalk again... If that's ok with you.'

Jasper's face was suddenly redder then Pearl's. She could only nod when Pearl looked up at her. Pearl smiled a bit, fidgeting with her phone in her hands, before taking a deep breath. Jasper hit play on a random movie on Netflix as Pearl twisted around on her lap to face her, one leg on either side of the giants hips. She kept fiddling with her hands as Jasper sat there kinda frozen. It look a moment for Jasper to remember how to talk.

"You don't have too." Jasper said taking Pearl's fidgeting fingers in her hand "I don't want you to feel like you did this morning."

Pearl shook her head as she flipped her phone over on the floor. She typed her response but didn't pick it up to read, causing Jasper to turn her head for her answer.

'As long as it is with you... I feel like I could do anything...J-Just go slow ok?'

Jasper couldn't process her words as Pearl fingers came onto her cheek. She turned Jasper's face to look at her. She was just inches away from her. Jasper's face was burning as Pearl's other hand came up to hold her other cheek. Her heart was beating in her ears as she just looked into Pearl's eyes.

She couldn't help how she felt about Pearl. She was head over heals for her. She wanted to just have her in her arms and not let go. Every smile. Every gesture. The shy way she would look at her as Jasper would take her hand. The way her eyes would light up when Jasper would ask her to pay another song on the piano. The way she would make Jasper laugh when she was pouting at her or the way she would smile when she would see Jasper waiting for her at her locker. Even though they were vastly different, she was perfect to Jasper.

Jasper couldn't help herself. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Pearl's gently. Pearl went stiff and that made Jasper pause. Was she too forceful? She didn't feel like she was. Jasper went to pull back but Pearl followed her, there lips never parting. Pearl's fingers traced down Jasper's neck slowly. Her hands moved over Jasper's shoulders, moving her shirt down her biceps, her fingers dancing over her skin gently. Her fingers sent goosebumps up Jasper's arms as her own hands found Pearl's legs. Jasper dragged her fingers up Pearl's thighs, gently caressing her skin as she reached the end of her shorts. Her fingers moved up over the fabric and up to her hips. Pearl sent a breath against Jasper's lips at the giants touch. She leaned into Jasper more as Jasper's hands wondered up her back a bit.

Jasper was trying so hard to go slow. She wanted to just run her hands all over Pearl's skin and pull her cloths off. She wanted to kiss and mark her all over her body while showing her just how much she meant to her. She wanted her to feel like Jasper did now. In a state of bliss. It drove Jasper crazy with need as there lips danced together. The feeling of the slender girls body pressed up against her own felt amazing. God she wanted to take her so bad.

Jasper groaned a bit as she reached up and took Pearl's hands, pulling her lips off of her own. Jasper took a breath as Pearl leaned away, looking at her a bit worried. Jasper had Pearl stand up before standing up herself. She took Pearl over to her bed and had her lay down. She leaned over her, her forearm holding her up over Pearl's body as her other arm ran up her thigh, pulling it up to hold next to her own.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jasper asked gently looking into Pearl's eyes. "I mite not be able to be gentle."

Pearl's answer was to prop herself up on her elbows and press there lips together again. With no more motivation needed Jasper showed Pearl just how much she meant to her.

**0**

Jasper took a deep breath and turned her face into Pearl's hair more as she heard her phone ringing. She smiled to herself as she felt Pearl unconsciously shift closer to her. Jasper had her arm wrapped around Pearl's body, holding her back against her chest. Pearl had Jasper's arm wrapped tightening in her arms in front of her. Jasper was almost asleep again when her phone starting ringing once more. She groaned into Pearl's hair as she propped herself up on her arm. She unwillingly took her arm out of Pearl's grip as she yawned. She pulled the blanket up more, covering there naked bodies before reaching over and grabbing her phone. She blinked, trying to focus on the screen with her blurry eyes, as she answered it and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She said with a yawn.

"Jasper Quartz!" Her aunts voice boomed through the phone causing Jasper to holding it out from her head with a start "You are in deep shit!"

Jasper's jump had stirred Pearl from sleep just enough to roll over, pressing herself into Jasper's chest. Jasper groaned at her aunts yelling in her ear, causing Pearl to yawn and crack and eye open to look up at her.

"What did I do this time?" She asked sleepily as she pressed her lips to Pearl's head.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble your in right now!?" Yellow snapped over the phone.

"I still don't know what I've done to be in trouble." She said as Pearl's lips pressed against her neck. She smiled before sucking in a sharp breath as she felt Pearl's teeth bite her skin. Jasper bit her tonged hard as to hold back the moan in her throat. A sharp breath left her lips and her aunt heard it.

"What was that?"

"Hit my elbow." Jasper said. She glared down at Pearl when she pulled away from her neck. The slender girl just covered her mouth and tried not to laugh.

"Anyway. I called because Pearl is missing." Her aunt said.

"Missing?" Jasper said frowning. "She's not missing, she's here at my place."

"What is the world is she doing there?"

Jasper smirked as she switched the phone to her other ear then raise her hand to brush Pearl's hair out of her face. "She came over to make sure me and Ame were ok. She then stayed to help us with the work we missed. It was late when we finished so we had her just stay instead of her walking home." Jasper yawned again. "Since I wasn't feeling too good. Still don't honestly."

"Well her parents-"

Jasper stopped listening. She had a look of shock on her face as Pearl suddenly looked worried. As Pearl sat up and twisted around for her phone Jasper couldn't take her eye off her skin. She had left the BIGGEST hickey _EVER_ on Pearl's collar bone. She felt her stomach drop as her aunt yelled her name.

"What?" Jasper said into the phone as Pearl twisted back around. She held her phone out to Jasper who just took it from her hand. She didn't look at what she typed instead opening the front camera and holding it up for Pearl to see.

"I said I'm coming over and if I get there and she is crying or hurt so help me god I'll-"

Jasper hung up the phone as Pearl's hand flew up and covered her neck. Her face went pale as they both looked at each other. Jasper dragged her hand down her face as she took a deep breath. She had tried to be gentle. She really did. But she guessed her definition of gentle was not gentle enough. Jasper went to lay down again before springing to her feet. The sudden motion made Pearl jump so bad she flailed and fell off the bed.

"Fuck!" was all Jasper could shout.

She ran around her bed, throwing her cloths on from last night before tossing Pearl's cloths at her. She told her to get dressed fast and she ran out of her room. She flew across the hallway, slamming into Rose's door.

"Rose! I-whoa!" Jasper started yelling into her sisters room as she opened the door but quickly took a step back covering her face. Her and her boy toy were busy sucking face and shirtless. "Did everyone get lucky last night?!"

"Is there so such thing a privacy in this house?!" Rose shouted as she grabbed her shirt and put it on. "What do you want Jasper?"

"I fucked up!" Jasper shouted "I fucked up so bad!"

"How?" Rose said rolling her eyes.

Jasper twisted around as Amethyst's door opened. She was saying something but Jasper was busy looking at Pearl who had walked up behind her. She grabbed Pearl's hand and pulled her in front of herself. She pulled down the corner of Pearl's shirt, showing the hickey below. Amethyst laughed hard as Pearl's face turned red. She smacked Jasper's hand away as Rose smiled.

"Nice love bite." Garnet chimed in from behind Amethyst, wearing her sisters favorite cloths to sleep in.

"Ok other then her parents, how are you fucked?" Rose asked coming over and crossing her arms.

"Yellows pissed." Jasper said panicking still. "Pearl's parents think she is missing, Yellow thinks we kidnapped her and are holding her hostage, and she is coming over, **NOW**."

Both her sisters faces dropped as her words sank in.

"If she gets here and sees everyone but us four standing in this house we can kiss our souls goodbye and I will never see you guys again if she sees that hickey!"

It took only a few moments for Rose to start shouting orders.

"Garnet, you and Jasper take our school stuff downstairs and make it look like a study cram session on the dinning room table. Amethyst you start throwing Fa-breeze round this house like your trying to kill us before Yellow does. Greg, put some music on and make space in my closet and Amethyst's for you and Garnet to hide in. go!"

Everyone started moving. It sounded like a hoard of elephants running rampant. Garnet and Jasper flew down the stairs faster then lightning, hurdling the stairs more then running down. They ran around the dinning room table throwing there school bags open. Jasper started pulling random books out of every bag as Garnet ran around making it look some what organized. Amethyst ran around the house holding air fresheners, spraying everything like it was the end of the world. She weaved her way through the two giants in the dining room, sliding under the table as she avoided getting trampled. Garnet then ducked into the kitchen as Greg yelled from upstairs about a car pulling up out front. Jasper grabbed the cans from Amethyst as she ran by, throwing them into the kitchen before grabbing her sister and running up the stairs.

"Garnet!" Amethyst yelled as Jasper landed on the landing and ran down the hall.

Jasper slid into her room as her sister was yelling at them to move faster. She peeked out the window for a minute, seeing her aunt almost to the house, before looking over her room. She spied Pearl's phone on the bed and grabbed it quickly. She turned and ran for the door, grabbing Pearl's notebook as well on her way by. As she turned to go to the bathroom she spied Garnet dragging Amethyst into her room while Greg ran into Rose's, turning off the music he had playing. Jasper slid to a stop at the bathroom door as there front door banged open. Jasper quickly handed Pearl her stuff before turning and sitting on the floor in the doorway. Rose was adjusting Pearls shirt, swiping her makeup into the bag in her hand haphazardly. She herd Rose toss the bag into the tub as Jasper twisted to face the hallway.

"The hearing aids!" Jasper whisper yelled looking over her shoulder at them.

Pearl quickly pulled the one facing the door out of her ear and put it on the counter. She jumped up to sit in front of it and Rose grabbed a brush then used her hand to mess up Pearl's already messy hair. Jasper twisted around as she crossed her arms and her outstretched legs. She shook her hair down into her face as her aunt stormed up the stairs. She yawned a bit dramatically as Yellow stood on the landing.

"Good morning aunt Yellow." Rose said with a smile in her voice as Yellow stormed over.

Before Yellow could speak Jasper saw Pearl hold up her notebook for Yellow to read with a smile on her face. Yellow paused for a moment to read before talking to Rose. "Translate for me."

"Oh, of course." Rose said pulling down her hairbrush.

"Do you have _any_ idea how worried your parents are right now Pearl?" Yellow asked.

Jasper turned to watch Rose translate her words into sign language for Pearl, even though they both knew she didn't need it, having the other hearing aide in her ear and all. Pearl played along though, looking at Rose before answering back and then looking to Yellow.

"She said she texted them to tell them she was here but it must not of went through." Rose translated.

"Well they think you've been kidnapped so _you_." Yellow turned to Rose "Should call them and let them know she is here and fine. I figured she be here." Yellow shot a dark look down at Jasper who rubbed her eye suddenly distracted "Considering what the cameras at school had to show me."

Jasper turned her eyes down to the floor, away from her aunt intense stair. "I had to stop your parents from calling the police this morning when they saw that you didn't come home and Rose." Yellow took a step into the bathroom and all three girls looked to her as she leaned forward and tapped the side of Pearl's neck with a single finger. "Use lighter tones. Your mother was bad at covering up hickeys too."

Jasper and Pearl were both bright red as Yellow turned and started down the hallway. Jasper held her arms up in a ' _what the hell rose'_ look and her sister just shrugged, turning her face away embarrassed. Jasper dragged a hand down her face as Pearl covered hers.

"You girls think your so smooth." Yellow said stopping at Amethyst's door and opening it. "Next time use a few sprays of air freshener and perfume to get rid of the smell. The whole house reeks of sex and bad decisions."

Amethyst groaned louder then her sisters as Yellow walked down to the stairs. "White and Blue will be over later. You can explain to them what happened with your 'sick day.' " Yellow disappeared down the steps and out the front door, only pausing for a moment to tell them something else. "Tell Greg not to play loud music next time! I could hear it out on the street."

With the click of the front door the Jasper rolled her eyes as Rose started to laugh.

"We are so dead." Rose said taking a makeup cloth from her bag as she retrieved it from the tub. She gently wiped Pearls neck off and tried again to cover her mark as Amethyst came out of her room with Garnet. Both girls wondered over as Greg opened Rose's door and leaned on the frame.

"One down, four angry adults to go." Jasper said with a groan. "Don't bother with a funeral guys, just throw me in a hole and move on."

"Nah will just put you in an oven then into a bunch of fireworks." Amethyst said as her sister got off the floor. "Then will light you off in there house so you can scare them one last time."

"Nah, lets do it Viking style. Put me on a boat, light my ass on fire, and push me out to sea. _Then_ put my skeleton in there closet." Jasper said rolling her shoulders.

Garnet walked past them and into the bathroom. They looked to see Rose struggling with the makeup. Garnet silently took the brush from her hand and tilted Pearl's head away from them, allowing the bathroom light to shine on her ivory marked skin. Jasper couldn't help but smile a bit at Pearl's blushing face. She could tell the slender girl was a bit embarrassed from all the eye suddenly on her.

"Nice mosquito bite." Garnet said as she started to cover up the hickey making Pearl turn a few shades darker.

"So much for being gentle." Amethyst said earning a shove from her older sister.

"Buzz off." Jasper said turning red again. "I was gentle!"

"Clearly." Garnet said.

"How did you even know how to do that G?" Amethyst asked walking in and wrapping her arms around her tall girlfriends waist, watching her work. "You don't exactly need make up for this kinda thing."

Garnet smiled to herself but stayed silent.

"Yet I can see all the 'mosquito bites' on you both from here." Jasper said crossing her arms and getting cocky "And you say _I_ can't be gentle."

Amethyst flipped her off as Rose asked for Pearl's phone. When Garnet was finished they all looked in shock. It looked like she never had a hickey at all.

"Your amazing babe." Amethyst said kissing Garnet's arm, earning a hymn of approval from her silent partner.

"You should get ready for the show." Garnet said looking at the sisters before offering Pearl her hand to get down off the counter. "Will go get breakfast set up while you two get sick."

Garnet pointed to the bag of make-up as Pearl hopped down off the counter. They silently left the bathroom as Rose took a deep breath and hit the call button on Pearl's phone. Jasper and Amethyst silently listened in as the shorter sister pulled a box out form under the sink. The box was full of Halloween makeup. They mite not know how to contour there faces but the sure know how to make themselves look sick.

"How sick we going for?" Amethyst asked as Rose greeted Pearl's parents over the phone.

"End of a stomach bug sick." Jasper said as they set to work. It wasn't hard to make themselves look sick. Being a darker skin tone with white stripes worked to Jasper's advantage. All she had to do was to pale up her stripes on her face and the bags under her eyes darker. Poor Amethyst had to make her whole face paler for it to work.

"Yes, yes Pearl is fine. She is down stairs helping my sisters-er-friend make breakfast. She was going to help my sisters with there work a bit more before contacting you but when she saw that the text never went through this morning she asked me to call you." Rose smoothly lied as she paced back and forth in front of the bathroom "...Yes Doctor, she is very upset. She said if she had known it didn't go through she would of had me call you right away...Yes... Yes...ok I'll send you our address and make sure it goes through. Will see you when you get here."

As Jasper and Amethyst finished there makeup jobs on there faces, not needing much time as they were pretty much pro at this, they turned to Rose.

"There mad but understanding." She said as they cleaned up the bathroom "Hopefully Pearl doesn't get yelled at too harshly."

"Not worried about her." Amethyst said as they filed out of the bathroom. "How long till _they_ get here?"

Jasper tuned out her sisters conversation as they made there way downstairs. She was worried about Pearl getting in trouble. Garnet did a good job about covering up her hickey for now. Jasper was more worried about when Pearl got home. Her parents were sure to give her a once over and find the makeup. She was even more sure they would be able to spot the cover up when they got here. Pearl was sick enough as it is, there was no way they weren't going to give her a once over before leaving.

 _Wait a minute_ , Jasper thought pausing for a moment. She ran her last thought over in her head before cursing at her self. She ran down the hall and turned into the kitchen so fast she almost knocked Garnet over.

"Meds!" Jasper snapped at Pearl a little too aggressively.

Pearl jumped at first at the giants outburst but quickly changed her demeanor at her words. Pearls face was in shock as she dropped the box in her hand. Jasper quickly hugged the door-frame as the slender girl bolted by her. Her sister barley got out of the way as Pearl barreled down the hallway and rounded the banister with reckless abandonment. They looked at Jasper funny but mostly impressed.

"How did you remember _that_ out of everything right now?" Amethyst asked.

Jasper shrugged as they both went into the dinning room while Rose went to join Garnet in the kitchen. They could hear Rose catching Garnet up on there new plan as they got situated at the table. As soon as Jasper's butt hit the chair she felt herself just crashing. All the excitement from earlier had taken more energy then she thought. In all her excitement she gave herself an unexpected adrenaline rush and was coming down from it. No sooner did Jasper lay her head on the table did she just pass out.

Jasper groaned a bit as she felt something gentle touching her. She closed her eyes a little tighter ignoring it when-

**-BANG**

"I'm Awake! Agh!" Jasper shot straight up in her chair so fast that she knocked herself backwards, flailing limbs and all. With a big bang and curse she landed on the floor. Jasper groaned at her now throbbing head as she propped herself up on her elbows. She glared at Amethyst who was cackling with a big book in her hand while Pearl stood off to the side, a worried look on her face. Jasper glowered at her sister while Pearl turned to her and presumably scolded her for scaring Jasper like that. She couldn't help but smile a bit as Pearl's annoyed face. She found it cute.

"Nice to see you joining us Jasper."

Jasper flinched as she turned to see both of Pearl's parents standing in the doorway. The giant muttered a help and sorry as she detangled herself form the legs of the chair. As she stood up she waved Pearl off. Her face was red with embarrassment enough from looking like an idiot in front of her parents, she didn't want to look any more stupid by needing help up.

"Um." Jasper said embarrassed as she stood the chair up and sat back down. "How long have you.."

"Long enough to know Pearl was trying to wake you while helping your sister with math." The doctor answered.

"Which I still don't understand." Amethyst said as she sat back down.

Jasper rubbed the sleep from her eyes, careful not to smug her makeup job. She then absentmindedly grabbed a notebook and wrote sorry to Pearl on it before sliding it forward for her to read.

"Can't even stay awake." Jasper felt her spine go stiff "How disrespectful to your guests."

Jasper looked to see her aunt White standing in the corner of the room with Blue, arms crossed and a fake smile plastered on her face.

"I don't blame you thought starlight. Your mother didn't exactly raise you with manners after all."

A frown set into Jasper's face at her aunts words. She herd Amethyst and Pearl shift uncomfortably in there seats as Rose paused in the doorway. The air felt thicker with tension as her aunt kept talking.

"You will have to forgive my misfit filled nieces Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran. There mother wasn't a very good role model for them." Jasper felt her hands ball into fists on the table at her aunt spoke. "You see she was a very unruly person. Doing whatever she wanted without a care for anyone else or her responsibilities."

Jasper felt herself start to shake slightly. Rose's face was turning red and Amethyst let out a small growl from between her lips. Jasper felt a cool hand on hers but it didn't acknowledge it.

"As you can see we try to help them but they just don't seem to want to except it." Her aunt gestured around them "The way they were raised was horrible but we think we can fix the damage there mother did to them. They just need-"

"Shut up!" Jasper yelled jumping out of her seat. "Just shut the fuck up!"

"Excuse me?" White asked looking fake shocked as everyone looked at her.

"Don't act like you know us! Like you know our mom!" Jasper spat "You don't know a damn thing!"

"I know your mother better then you did." She said darkly. Her tone was deep and trying to scare the oldest Quartz sister but it didn't work. It only made her more angry.

" _NO_ you didn't." Jasper snapped "You have no right to talk about her like that. None of you do! None of you were here for us. For her!"

"Don't act like you care about us." Jasper growled walking around the table to face her aunts. "You didn't care until she died and you still pretend to even now."

"That's enough." White snapped but Jasper was too far beyond the point of being scared of her enough to listen.

"You never saw the way she was with us! She loved us! She loved you! You have no idea how much she talked about you three and how much she loved you even after you treated her like dirt and left her after having me because you didn't like that she wanted to keep me, to keep my sisters!" Jasper was just shaking with anger as each word left her mouth "You never saw how much she struggled to raise us. How much she loved us. No matter how many jobs she had to work and hours she put in she was _always_ there for every sport and event we did. But you wouldn't care about that now would you?"

"Jas-"

"Do you even know how much you guys hurt her? How late at night I could hear her talking on the phone to all three of you, asking for help with watching us so she could take more hours at work. To just watch us so she wouldn't have to worry about not being able to feed us until almost ten at night most of the week. Did you even know how much you hurt her? How much she cried after getting off the phone with you stupid sags!"

"Jasper!"

"That's enough!" White said storming over and getting in Jasper's face, her first mistake "Your going to apologize now."

"She worked herself to death because you guys decided she was a fucking worthless person who deserved all the pain in her life!"

"Enough." White placed her hand on Jasper's shoulder and grabbed a fist full of her shirt, her second mistake.

"The only reason you three cunts are even in our lives is because my sisters are under 18. Why can't you just fuck off and leave us alone-"

_**-Slap** _

Mistake number three.

Jasper's cheek stung as she locked eyes with her aunt. She was yelling at her but Jasper didn't hear a thing. She just stared at her aunt. Her body was burning and her hands were in fists so tight her knuckles looked like they were about to split. There was shouting and yelling but Jasper couldn't make out where it was coming from. The only thing running through her head was to not hit anyone. To just get out of there and not do something rash... Ok, something not _too_ rash.

As soon as a hand touched Jasper's arm she moved. She looked her aunt dead in the eye and did the only thing her body would allow. She spat the biggest loogy she could right into her face.

With the surprised them pissed look on her aunt face as she spat out that Jasper was a defectively rejected child, the giant turned on her heals and stormed out of the room. Anger pushed her forward and pain rocked her chest. Her hand almost crushed the railing on the stairs as she stormed up them. When reaching the landing she didn't go to her room. She didn't go to her sisters or the bathroom. She turned left right on the landing and slammed the door shut to there mothers room behind her.

Jasper sunk to the floor, bringing her fist back and hitting the door at her back. Her sisters wouldn't dare come in this room. Not even her aunts would be dumb enough to try. No one really came in here since Pink passed. The girls had closed off the room to the world, leaving everything the way it was the day she died. A thin layer of dust covered everything. The walls once filled with warm laughter and smiles held the cold reminder she was gone. The bed once full of giggling girls and pillow fights sat neatly made like it was never shown any form of affection. The love and care that flowed from there mom from this room and through the whole house ran cold.

Jasper drew her knees to her chest, wrapping one big arm around her legs while the other ran up into her hair, gripping a handful tight. She placed her head on her knees and bit her lip so hard it started to bleed. She felt herself shaking as she tried to hold it together. Her aunt's words were screaming in her head. Every insult to there mom was like a stab in the heart. Every comment about her and her sisters stung like fire against her skin. She could hear the arguing and shouting coming from down stairs but it did nothing to her. She knew it was all because or her, that everything happening on the floor below was her fault.

It was taking all her life itself not to cry right now. She felt her walls crumbling around her as all the words in her head sank into her soul. She felt worthless. Maybe her aunts were right. She was nothing but a trouble maker. She was no good and all the yelling just confirmed it in her head. She knew she was going to be in big trouble but she didn't care anymore. Her aunts were going to punish her severely, her sisters were going to blame her for the rest of her like, and Pearl... Her parents were never going to let her see Jasper again. Pearl was probably never going to wants her around again after this. After the giants outburst. For the first time ever, the thought of running away came to her mind. She was doing nothing but causing drama and issues in her life. Her sisters were always getting in trouble because of her. Her aunts wanted to just send her away. Maybe she would let them or maybe she would just walk off and never come back.

"Fucking idiot." Jasper growled at herself as she pulled at her hair "So fucking useless..."

Jasper felt her herself let out a chuckle as a tear ran down her face without permission "I hate when there right."

Jasper was beating herself up mentally so bad that when a knock came to the door she jumped a bit. At first she was stunned but then she let out a low growl, a warning. Anyone smart enough to get the hint would of walked away but when the knock came again Jasper snapped a bit. She took in a deep angry breath and ripped her hand from her hair, curling it in a fist and slamming it into the door "Fuck off!"

Jasper growled again as something slid under the door and hit her butt. Her hand shot down and yanked the object from the floor. She was about to tear it to shreds when she saw it was a peace of paper. She squinted at it for a moment, taking in the beautifully swirly handwriting, before grumbling in defeat. Jasper put the paper down at her side and let out a big sigh. As she reached up and grabbed the doorknob she paused.

Did she really want Pearl to see her right now? The thin girl just saw her angry, no volatile. She let out the dark anger inside her so why would Pearl want to see her now? She just saw her at her worst and yet... She was knocking to come in but... Jasper didn't want her to see her right now at all. Not when she felt so... vulnerable, weak. At the same time... she _needed_ her. She needed something stable in her crumbling world and mind. She didn't want to admit it but she needed Pearl so bad. Some need deep in her to hold on to someone... She wanted Pearl to hold on to.

With a forced 'fuck' from her lips, Jasper unlocked the door with her thumb and turned the knob in the same fluid motion. She leaned to the side and opened the door just enough to let the slender girl through. When she felt a small hand on her shoulder she quickly slammed the door shut again, locking it.

Jasper felt Pearl's cool hand against her cheek next. When she tried to raise Jasper's face the giant just couldn't do it. She left so shamed of herself right now. She felt herself still shaking and another tear fall down her face. She didn't want Pearl to see her like this. Pearl was persistent though. Her slender fingers moved down to Jasper's chin and tried to coax her face up that way. With no luck again she herd Pearl huff and it made her flinch. She sounded so angry at her and she probably was.

She hates me... Jasper thought as Pearl's hand left her face. She was ready for Pearl force her head up but wasn't ready for what she did instead.

When a slender leg passed by her face Jasper jumped in surprise. She uncurled just enough for what Pearl wanted to do. The slender girl lowered herself and sat on Jasper's lap. Jasper felt herself shake a bit more as Pearl's face became level with hers. Cool hands on her cheeks had Jasper relax just enough to let her guide her face up. When Jasper's eyes looked into Pearl's she felt herself crumbled a bit more. Her eyes slammed shut as Pearl's thumbs brushed across her cheeks. She felt her wipe away her tears that stained her cheeks.

After a few moments of gentle touches Jasper turned her face into Pearl's hand, keeping her eyes shut and moving so her fingers just brushed her hair line. She laid her arms across her knees, resting them against Pearl's back.

"I'm sorry..." Jasper said softly, opening her eyes to stair at there laps "That I'm weak..." She nuzzled more into Pearl's hand "That I'm no good..." She sighed closing her eyes again "You deserve someone better then me..."

"Jasper."

The giants eyes shot open. Did she just hear her name? It was so soft she thought that she was just hearing thing. When she looked at Pearl she knew she was wrong.

"It's...o-k." Pearl's soft voice said. Jasper felt herself shaking a bit more as Pearl forced her words from her throat. "It's ok...to b-be...sad. To cry."

Jasper slammed her eyes shut as the damn broke. Tears streamed down her face as she drew her knees tighter to herself, her arms wrapping around Pearl tight. She buried her face into Pearl's shoulder as sobs shook from her body. Her massive hands gripped the back of Pearl's shirt tight as she felt Pearl wrap her arms around her neck. The slender girl ran a hand through Jasper's hair gently as she cried. Jasper felt the anger and frustration just leave her body as she cried. Her mental walls keeping everyone out and at arms length just crumble for the girl in her lap.

It was a few hours until Jasper finally felt her tears run dry and her sobs slow to just sniffles. As her body got quiet she could hear Pearl. She was humming softly as she continued to stroke Jasper's main, her face pressed into Jasper's hair. With a heavy sigh Jasper pressed her face more into Pearl's neck.

"I'm sorry." She said into the ivory skin "For crying."

Jasper tightened her arms slightly as Pearl stopped humming. Pearl's fingers stopped stroking Jasper's hair and moved to her face instead. Tilting her face up, Pearl gave the giant a gentle smile before kissing her forehead.

"I didn't want you to ever see me like that... " Jasper aid looking down again "Like this..."

Pearl silently wiped the frozen tears away on Jasper's cheeks. Her thumbs slowly moved up and brushed over Jasper's eyes, brushing the remaining moisture from her thick lashes. When she opened her eyes to Pearl's gentle smile. Pearl leaned to the side and picked up her notebook that Jasper didn't realize she had. She quickly wrote something down and turned it for the giant to read.

'You have every right to be upset and mad. Your aunt was wrong to speak bad of the dead like that.'

Jasper looked away and after Pearl scribbled a new note, she felt her guild her face back to read it.

'My parents are disgusted with how your aunt treated you. They actually got in a big argument with her and they wanted me to tell you that if you guys ever need anything to let them know. My parents knew your mother well when you were little. They want you to know that your not alone.'

"I've always been alone." Jasper said "I'm just a big fuck up anyway."

'Your not a f-up Jasper'

Jasper snorted "You dissever so much better then me."

 _She knows its true_ , Jasper thought as Pearl wrote nothing for a bit. _She will just walk away like everyone else..._

'I don't want anyone else.'

Jasper looked at the notebook in shock. It took a lot to drag her eyes from the paper but when she did she felt Pearl press her lips to hers gently. Jasper felt a bit of reassurance in this kiss, like her crumbling world got a little more stable under her feet even with it still shaking. When there lips parted Pearl put her forehead to Jasper's. They sat there in content silence as Jasper felt herself slowly coming back together.

When a knock came on the door Pearl jumped and Jasper frowned. She didn't want to move right now. She didn't want to let Pearl out of her arms, not yet. She wasn't ready to get up and walk out to the world outside the door. Jasper especially didn't want to let anyone else into her bubble right now. Pearl was all she needed at the moment. She didn't want her sisters or anyone else to look at her broken state and judge her.

"Pearl." Rose's gentle voice came through to there ears "Can you come out for a moment?"

Jasper watched the debate in Pearl's face before she made her decision. Pearl ran her thumbs over Jasper's cheeks again before moving. She slowly detangled herself from Jasper's death grip on her body before getting to her feet. She slowly stepped to Jasper's side and took her hands. With a reassuring smile and squeeze Pearl coaxed Jasper to her feet. The giant was a bit stiff and shaky but when Pearl was sure she wouldn't collapse on her she held her hand tight in her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I wanted this chapter to show how close the Quartz's sister are to each other in there ability to help each other when it comes to all the drama and crap that comes there way. I also wanted to show Jasper's vulnerable side and her realization of how much she needs Pearl.  
> Song: The song I had in mind is Travis A King - Beautiful Mind. This song came on while I was writing Jasper's breakdown and it just fit so perfectly with the whole scene in the bedroom.  
> Let me know what you think! Rate/Review and let me hear your thoughts!


	7. Chapter 7

Jasper looked to Pearl and gave her a gentle squeeze back. Pearl gave her a small smile before turning to the door. She unlocked it and opened it slow. Rose was waiting on the other side. Jasper looked at her feet as she let Pearl pull her to the door-frame before feeling her pull her hand away. Jasper glanced up at Pearl so see her sign something to Rose before turning to go down the steps. When she vanished from view Jasper locked eyes with her sister. She was expecting Rose to be mad or at least look mad, not the confidant smile that danced across her face like so many other times in there lives.

"You messed up your make up sis." Rose said as she opened her arms slowly and Jasper didn't hesitate to walk into them. Jasper wasn't a very affectionate person overall but she got used to her sisters and moms overbearing need to hug. She actually welcomed the embrace and her sister knew it. Rose was very charismatic but sometimes a hug can be more powerful then words could ever bring to life.

"Nice shot." Rose said into Jasper's ear as she did her best to hug her taller sister "Got her right in the eye."

Jasper snorted and found a smile on her face for a moment before she let go. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how-"

"No." Rose said waving her hand and cutting Jasper off. "Lets not talk about it."

"Rose."

"It's over Jasper." Her sister said in an almost pleading tone "Can't change what was said anymore then what was done. There mad but they won't do anything for now. Pearl's parents gave White a royal tongue lashing."

"Her parents?"

"After you left the doctor started scolding White. Telling her she should be ashamed of her words and the mental reproductions from treating any of us like this, lot of big words but she got her point across." Rose laughed "I've never seen White so embarrassed in her life."

Her sisters laughing made Jasper smile a bit. Out of nowhere Amethyst shot out from behind Rose and body slammed a hug into her. Amethyst couldn't hug her sister normally so she death gripped her waist where her arms could reach. Jasper wrapped her arm around her younger sisters shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

"Are you ok?" The purple haired girl asked.

"Does it matter?" Jasper said with a shrug.

"Of course it does!" Amethyst said "We knew you wouldn't let us in there with you and Pearl was worried about you so we thought-"

"She helped." Jasper mumbled cutting her sister off.

"What?"

"She helped." Jasper said a little louder turning her face away embarrassed.

"Good." Amethyst said.

"We figured you would take to her better then us." Rose said reaching up and brushing some of her sisters bangs out of her face "Now lets get dressed and get out of here. Too stuffy and I feel like ice-cream will fix everything right now."

Jasper nodded and joined in Amethyst laugh when she saw Pearl at the base of the stairs, her arms crossed and her notebook in her hand. The words 'NO angry unicorn' was scribbled in dark ink and her face alone had the sisters rushing to get ready.

**0**

Jasper bounced her foot impatiently at Peridot's fussing over her looks. She felt her best friend mess with her shirt for the hundredth time. It had been a week and a half since her and her aunts blow up. The sisters were worried a bit because not a single aunt had tried to talk to them or anything. When they got in trouble at school Yellow's assistant gave them there punishments instead. They were wary of the storm they know was coming but enjoyed the peace for the moment.

"I'm fine." Jasper snapped.

"You wanted my help to look nice on this date so shut up and quit squirming." Peridot snapped back. "Now sit down so I can fix the mop on your head."

Jasper rolled her eyes but did as her best friend said. She was taking Pearl out on a date tonight for her birthday. Her plan was to take her to dinner and then ask her to prom. Jasper had asked her parents already, with Rose's help, and they said it was ok after an extensive run down of what _not_ to do and to make sure they were back before 11. Now the only thing to do was ask Pearl herself. Peridot had tried to teach Jasper how to ask Pearl in sign language but after an hour she had given up.

"As long as you don't get in a foot chase or anything your hair should suffice." Peridot said jumping off the counter in the bathroom "Is that the best you could do?"

"What's wrong with what I have on?" Jasper asked looking down at herself.

"You look like your going to hang out instead of on a date."

"Hey, my pants reach the ground, what more do you want?" Jasper said wiggling her foot at Peridot. Jasper hated wearing jeans but she wanted to look nice despite her limited wardrobe selection. She even managed a nice shirt as well. Yes she looked disheveled but it was better then her normal choice.

"Do you have her present?" Peridot asked as they both left the bathroom.

"Yup."

"And the flowers?"

"In the truck."

"Look at you all ready for this date." Rose's voice carried from the bottom floor as both girls descended the stairs.

"I want her to smile all night." Jasper said with a smile of her own.

"Where are you guys going?" Greg asked from the sofa.

"To get pizza then walk to the lighthouse to watch the stars." Jasper answered.

"Pizza?" Rose said. "That's not very romantic."

"What's wrong with pizza?" Amethyst said from her spot on the floor in Garnet's arms.

"Nothing." Rose answered looking at her sister "I just don't think its something you would go and eat on a date is all."

"Doesn't matter the food, as long as you have a good time, that's all that counts." Greg said coming up and hugging Rose "Besides you didn't complain on our first date."

"I'm gonna puke." Jasper said pretending to heave, earning a chuckle from Amethyst and Peridot.

"Oh shut up hickey master." Rose countered making them all laugh. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Don't wanna be late." Garnet chimed in.

"Ok, ok I'm going." Jasper said.

Jasper tried her best to not speed over to Pearl's but it was hard. She was just so excited. She wanted to make Pearl just smile the whole time. Maby she could finally work up to courage to ask her out.

As Jasper pulled up to Pearl's house she frowned when she spied Lapis' car out front. She parked behind Lapis' car and killed the engine quickly. Jasper put Pearl's present in the glove box and grabbed the flowers before hopping out of her truck. As she came around the front she saw Lapis talking with Pearl at her front door. The giant tried not to frown as she walked up, over hearing there conversation.

"Please Pearl. How can I make it up to you?" Lapis asked. Pearl signed quickly and waved her off with a huff but the blue haired girl was persistent "C'mon Pearl. I need to do something."

Pearl signed something at her angerly and by the look on her face Jasper guessed it was a nice way of saying go away. Lapis took a step forward to touch Pearl's arm when Jasper cleared her throat. Lapis turned around and nearly fainted when she spied the giant behind her. "H-Hi Jasper."

"Are you finished making her upset?" Jasper asked looking down at the swimmer with a slightly dark look on her face "Or do I have to finish your conversation for you?"

"What are you doing here?" Lapis said crossing her arms "Were a bit busy here."

"I'm taking the birthday girl here out on a date." Jasper said stepping around Lapis and pulling the flowers from behind her back, offering them to Pearl. Both girls look surprised at the gift as Pearl took them. When a smile spread across her face Jasper looked down at Lapis with a pointed look. "Looks like your conversation is over."

Lapis looked between Pearl and Jasper but didn't make a move to leave until Pearl stepped forward and planted a kiss on Jasper's cheek. As Pearl signed thank you to Jasper the swimmer silently left. Jasper smiled more before thumbing to her truck. "Ready to go?"

Pearl reached forward and took Jasper's hand, pulling her into the house. Jasper was kinda awestruck on how nice Pearl's house was. It was beautiful like it was pulled out of a home style magazine. It was unnaturally clean too. There wasn't a single book or cushion out of place. It was a bit unsettling but Jasper figured it was kept this nice so Pearl wouldn't get sick. It made her feel a little bad about her being in her house with her sisters as she was taken into there kitchen.

"Hello doc, Mr. M" Jasper greeted her parents.

"Hello Jasper." The doctor said taking a sip of her coffee. "Are those from you?"

Her eyes were looking at the flowers in Pearl's hand as she walked over to the sink with a smile. Jasper nodded as Pearl's dad got up and left the room.

"Yes ma'am. I wanted to get her something nice." Jasper said a little embarrassed as she put her hands in her pockets "The lady said there hypo, um, h-hypogenic or something."

"Hypoallergenic." The doctor said placing her cup down.

"Yea that word."

"So what do you plan on doing with my daughter?" The doctor asked.

Pearl touched her moms arm, getting her attention. She signed something to her as Jasper breathed a sign of relief to being out of the spot light. As her dad came back in with a flower vase the doctor looked at Pearl a bit funny. "There is nothing wrong with making sure your going to be ok."

Pearl helped her dad put her flowers in the vase before coming to Jasper's side. The giant smiled down at her before suddenly covering her ears. The dancer looked at her funny as did her parents.

"Stargazing." Jasper said to the doctor "I want it to be a surprise."

The doctor made a thoughtful noise as Jasper dropped her hands from Pearl's ears to take her hand. Her parents looked to each other and signed quickly to each other. Jasper was unsure what to do so she glanced down at Pearl. The girl at her side was covering part of her face, the look of embarrassment heavy. Jasper couldn't help but chuckle and she got a glare in return. When she smiled down at Pearl the slender girl smiled back letting go of her hand. She signed something to her parents quickly before taking Jasper's hand and pulling her away. Jasper threw a goodbye over her shoulder as Pearl took her quickly to the front door, grabbing her bag off the ground, and outside.

The night was alive as there date went on. Pizza was a big hit and they found themselves laughing and enjoying each others company long after the sun had moved across the sky. As the sun dipped behind the horizon the pair were on there way up to the light house. After being almost all the way up Jasper had changed her mind and dragged Pearl over to the cliff side she had the dive off on. As Jasper set up a hug blanket on the grass Pearl held up her notebook.

'Why are we up here?'

"Stargazing." Jasper said sitting down on the blanket and laying down, patting the spot next to her. Pearl drew a question mark in the air with her finger before she sat down. "I wanted to do something that didn't require you to talk."

Jasper realized how bad her words sounded as Pearl hymned, laying back and crossing her arms. "N-Not that I don't like when you talk-I mean, you have a nice voice even though its hard for you to talk and it sounds really squeaky-No wait."

Jasper pinched the bridge of her nose as she shut up. She sounded like such an idiot. She thought Pearl was going to be mad at her until she her a soft giggle in her ear. She turned her head to see Pearl had moved so there heads were next to each other while there body's faced different ways. Pearl was smiling at her as she held up her notebook.

'Your horrible with words'

"I know." Jasper said frowning and looking back up at the sky "I'm sorry."

Jasper's face turned red and a smile hit her face as she felt Pearl kiss her cheek. The giant tucked one arm under her head and the other to lay around Pearl's. Her fingers gently brushed Pearl's shoulder as the thin girl reached up with her own hand to hold the giants. They laid there and watched the stars come out slowly. It was like watching a city from a distance light up with the night. One by one the stars came out until the sky was filled with thousands of them. They all clustered and looked like a river flowing through space in there eyes.

Jasper gaze was so fixed on the sky that she jumped a bit when Pearl tapped her shoulder. She looked over to see her holding her notebook up.

'What gave you the idea to stargaze?'

"Its something special my mom would do with me and my sisters." Jasper said "We would lay out for hours and learn about the constellations or try to count the stars."

'What was your mom like?'

Jasper turned her gaze back to the sky and took a few minute to put the words in her head in order before answering.

"She was... wonderful." She said "Kind... Pretty... She saw the beauty in everything, no matter how messed up and dark it was. Rose got that from her, her view of the world."

'When did she pass away?'

"Last year. It was sudden. She was working late and she had collapsed in the parking lot in the snow. No one found her until it was too late."

'I'm sorry'

Jasper shrugged as she read Pearl's next question.

'How about your Father?'

"Rose has a different dad then me and Amethyst. Both of them jumped ship when they found my mom was pregnant. When my dad came back he lied to my mom to get back into her pants and then left again when Amethyst came along."

'Your aunts don't seem to care either, especially after your fight.'

"They never have. When my mom had me they tried to get her to give me up, saying I was a failure because of my skin" Jasper would raised there linked arms to point at a white patch "My mom made them choose to either take both of us as we are or to walk away and you can see what they chose. Well White chose for them. She was the only one who rejected me and 'persuaded' the other two to her choice."

'Well I'm happy you stood up for yourself against your aunt. Although I don't approve of your method, it _was_ pretty funny to watch her look at you in utter shock.'

Pearl brought there raised hands down and pressed a kiss to Jasper's fingers before placing there hands back on the ground. They both shifted there gazes back up to the stars and fell into comfortable silence. Jasper turned her head slightly to lean it on Pearl's as a shooting star crossed the sky. They both layer there as the sky grew darker above them. Neither girl wanted to move from this moment and in this moment Jasper was happy. She didn't feel upset or mad like she had all week since her fight. She felt a calming peace within her self and she felt it was because of Pearl. She came in at her lowest point and helped her find the ground again under her feet. She helped her bring her head above water instead of letting her sink to the bottom of the darkness in her head. She cut through the fog and helped her learn to breath again. She made her truly happy and she never wanted to let that go.

Jasper turned and looked at Pearl "Happy birthday Pearl." She then planted a kiss of her cheek "Be mine."

Pearl blinked and looked at Jasper as she traced a question mark in the air with her finger.

"I want you to be my girlfriend." Jasper said again moving there twisted hands to run the back of hers across Pearl's cheek. It took Pearl a second to remember to breath before nodding her head yes. Jasper smiled in returned and pressed her lips to Pearl's before sitting up "Good, because there's one more thing I want to ask you."

Jasper fished Pearl's present out of her pocket as the slender girl sat up. They both turned to face each other as Jasper held out a thin black box. When Pearl looked at it she drew another question mark in the air before taking it.

"Consider it a birthday present as well as a question." Jasper said with a smile.

Pearl looked at her funny as she opened the box slowly. Inside sat a single teardrop charm with a pearl on it hanging from a thin silver chain. Jasper never saw Pearl wear jewelry so she wanted to get her something pretty. She even had it made so she could wear it all the time and it would be durable enough to survive anything. She had taken Rose with her to get it since she knew more about girly things like this then Jasper did. They had spent hours in the store making sure it was perfect before buying it. Before picking Pearl up for there date Jasper had written on a peace of paper 'prom?' and stuck it in the box.

Pearl blinked a bit before placing the box on her lap and grabbing her notebook. Jasper's heart faltered a bit but she pushed the feeling down as Pearl wrote something down and holding it up for her to read.

'Help me put it on?'

"So is that a yes?" Jasper asked taking the box and pulling the necklace out. Pearl smiled and planted a quick kiss on Jasper's lips after nodding. Jasper couldn't hide her smile as she hooked the chain around Pearl's slender neck. Both girls were smiling like idiots the whole way back to Pearl's house and even after walking her to the door, getting a kiss goodnight, Jasper's smile didn't fade until she pulled up in her own driveway. As she killed the engine she pulled out her phone and fiddled with it. She had to call someone but didn't think it would end well if she did. This night was amazing and she didn't want to self sabotage herself but this thing she was going to need help with and with her mom gone, this was something that she needed to do.

With a sigh Jasper scrolled through her contacts and pressed the call button on one. Holding it up to her ear she listened as it rang a few times before a surprised voice answered on the other side.

"Hi Aunt Blue." Jasper said "I was wondering if you were free tomorrow?"

**0**

Jasper bounced her leg uncomfortably as she leaned against the wall outside the mall waiting for her aunt. Her and Pearl had texted most of the night about prom stuff. Learning Jasper never really went to any dances growing up Pearl was determined to make sure she had a good time, or at the very least match. She had told Jasper to pick her favorite color, which was orange, and then try not to make it clash with the color blue Pearl liked. It was cute how things had to match and the symmetry had to work out. The little quirks that annoyed Pearl made Jasper smile.

When Jasper herd her name she looked up to see her aunt walking towards her. Pushing off the wall she shoved her hands deep into her pockets as her aunt gave her a smile.

"Thanks for helping me out with this." Jasper said leaning away from the hug her aunt offered her.

"Thank you for asking." Blue said taking her arms back slowly before turning to walk inside "Now what was it you needed help with?"

"Prom." Jasper said as they walked inside "I... don't really know what would look good on me and I figured you had a better fashion sense then Rose and since moms not here." Jasper shrugged.

"Yes well, will find something. Anything in particular you want to wear?" Blue asked.

"Um, I'm not really sure." Jasper said looking anywhere but at her aunt "I got a color in mind but I've never done something like this before."

"This will be fun." Blue said "I'll try to not get emotional."

That didn't last long. Both of them had gone to several stores, trying on different tux's and nothing seemed to look right but that didn't stop Jasper's aunt from crying about how grown up she looked. It made her a bit uneasy. Wasn't this stuff supposed to be done with your mom? That thought had Jasper frown as she put her cloths back on. She didn't have that option. Jasper was grumbling as she walked out of the dressing room to hang another suit on the rack.

"This isn't working." She growled shoving her hands in her pockets. She looked up a bit surprised to see her aunt not sitting in the chair next to the mirror. Instead she was coming back over with a... was that a dress in her hand? Jasper gave her a funny look as her aunt smiled at her.

"I wanted you to try something different." She said stopping at the chair.

"I don't know..." Jasper said eyeballing the dress wearily.

"You never were one for girly things growing up." Her aunt said running a hand over the dress "You are just like your mom in that way. Never conforming to standards. Standing on your own two feet. Defying authority and being a pain in the butt. Your so full of her wild spirit."

Blue looked at Jasper's annoyed and confused look before continuing, wiping tears from her eyes. "White never let us see you all but that doesn't mean we didn't care. Pink would send us pictures in the mail all the time, writing letters and sometimes a DVD with whatever sport or thing you guys were competing in. It was nice to see you three grow up, even if it was from a distance." Blue took a calming breath and offered Jasper the dress "Its nice to break out of the mold sometimes and try something new."

Jasper took it slowly as Blue continued "To help put into perspective what we need in life, what's best for us, even if we don't want it."

Jasper took the dress into the dressing room and locked herself inside. She hung the dress up on the peg and just stared at it like it would bite her. Jasper never was a skirt wearing heals kinda girl. She was all about cars, dirt, and sports. Her wardrobe was all guy cloths, minus the bras. Jasper was too tall, too broad shouldered to fit in girls cloths but after pondering how hurt her aunt would be if she didn't at least try the dress on, she slowly undressed.

Getting into the dress was surprisingly difficult. Jasper was growling to herself as she tried to put her head through the sleeves twice before the right hole. She could hear her aunt snickering to herself on the other side of the door and told her to shush, earning a laugh. "This is stupid!"

"No its not."

" _I_ feel stupid."

"Let me see."

"H-Hold on." Jasper stuttered.

Jasper felt her face go red as she took herself in in the mirror. She actually looked... ok, good even. Who knew burgundy complimented her skin tone well. She didn't feel acword or shitty about herself. The dress didn't make her look like a troll in a bed sheet. Jasper brushed her hair behind her ears as she took it all in. The dress hugged her curves gently, gently extenuating her figure without drawing a lot of attention to her chest. It hung just on the edges of her shoulders and did a gentle swoop down her chest and back a bit, not showing too much skin but enough to show her collar bones and some skin under. It hugged her body then flared out just enough to move with her. The dressed stopped just at her knees. The sleeves gently hugged her arms all the way down to her wrists and moved with her, never wrinkling in the wrong way or stretching the wrong stitch.

Jasper looked herself over in the mirror and felt herself let a small smile come across her lips. She actually felt... pretty... Was this how girls were supposed to feel?

"Can I see?" Her aunt voice made her jump out of her skin or a moment.

"Y-Yea just... One sec." Jasper coughed out coming back from her own little world.

She fished her phone from her pants pocket and opened it to see a text from Pearl.

P-girl: What are you up too?

Jasper smiled and took a deep breath before opening the camera app on her phone and taking a picture, sending it to Pearl before she could change her mind. She quickly put the phone down and turned to the door when her Aunt asked to see her again. "I'm coming!"

Jasper felt her hand shake as she unlocked the door. She couldn't bring her eyes from the floor as she stepped out of the dressing room. She silently came out and stood in front of the mirror. After taking a few deep breaths she brought her eyes up to see her aunt standing behind her, tears in her eyes, her hand over her mouth. Jasper crossed her arms and looked away to the ceiling as her aunt came up next to her. "I look ridiculous."

A gentle hand on her shoulder had Jasper looking at her aunt. "How do you feel?"

"I-"

"I mean _really_ feel." Her aunt cut her off with soft but firm words "Look in the mirror and tell me what your feeling."

Jasper sighed and dragged her eyes to the mirror. Why did she have to say how she felt? She knew how she felt! She felt!... She felt... "Not really sure. Pretty I guess? Things like this...aren't really my thing. I just, I wanna look nice for her."

"Her?" Blue questioned.

Jasper felt her face go red again as she grinded her thoughts to a halt in her head. She scrambled her brain for an answer, her aunt smiling the whole time.

"Yea, the girl from my house." Jasper muttered "I have a thing for her and were kinda an item now."

"Item?" Her aunt looked so confused. It could be frustrating dealing with her aunts ability to not know teen lingo but then again, Jasper's mom was the only one to have kids out of her sisters.

"Were together." Jasper said as a smiled betrayed her stern face "She's my girlfriend." her aunt was smiling ear to ear and Jasper couldn't take it anymore "I'm getting out of this!"

Jasper felt like her face was going to catch fire as she retreated back into the changing room. She picked up her phone and smiled seeing a response from Pearl. When she opened it she muffled the laugh that escaped her lips. Pearl had sent a picture of herself, face beat red, a tissue up the left side of her nose. She was almost as red as the blood on her face.

P-girl: You did this to me!

Jasper smirked and got braver then she ever felt before. She opened the camera again, hooking on big finger to the front of the dress, and pulling it down to show off a good portion of her chest. She gave a wink and stuck her tongue out before snapping a pick and sending it. It was only an after thought that it was a bad idea to tease Pearl like this. As she changed back into her street cloths Jasper laughed as Pearl sent another picture but with a tissue up the right side of her nose now as well.

P-girl: STOP! Your KILLING me!

J: I regret nothing. Your face is cute.

P-girl: Bite me

J: Is that an offer?

P-girl: Stars, just shut up!

Jasper couldn't help but chuckle as she left the dressing room.

J: Would that be ok to wear? I don't look.. Stupid or anything?

P-girl: well it would be easier to get you out of it later.

J: Jesus fucking Christ Pearl!

Jasper shoved her phone deep into her pocket but couldn't wipe the smile from her face. Pearl was always saying she was very vulgar when flirting but the slender girl seemed to picking up that habit now. Her aunt looked at her and smiled to see her happy. After buying the dress and parting ways, Jasper was a big smiling idiot walking into her house. Not two steps in and her sister had her pinned to the door with big smiles on there faces.

"Your going to prom!?"

"Your going with Pearl!?"

They both yelled at the same time and only after Jasper had rolled her eyes did Amethyst spy the silhouette of the dress over her shoulder, hanging in the garment bag on the hanger. Faster then Jasper could react her youngest sister had snatched the covered dress from her shoulder and took off down the hallway. Jasper's face was suddenly red and frowning as she yelled at Amethyst. "Give that back!"

"No way! I NEED to see this!"

Jasper took off down the hallway after her sister and the youngest Quartz streaked out a laugh at her sisters red face, pointing it out as loudly as she could. They ran between the kitchen and dinning room, running around tables and jumping over chairs. Jasper was cursing Amethyst to the high heavens and Amethyst herself was shaking with laughter. They ran all around the house. Rose was laughing as Garnet appeared at the top of the steps to watch. At one point they pole-vaulted the sofa and Amethyst realized she was going to need back-up.

"Wait till I get my hands on you runt!"

"Garnet help!" Amethyst shrieked scrambling to get up the stairs "She's gonna kill me!"

Rose managed to get the back of Jasper's ankles and throwing her off balance on the stairs just enough to get pinned down. "Rose I WILL gut you!"

"Oh hush up." Rose laughed digging her knees into the back of her oldest sisters.

Amethyst had reached the top of the stairs but before she could run into her room Garnet caught her. The silent girl wrapped one arm round Amethyst's waist, holding her still, as the other took the covered dress and rolled it up neatly over her arm. She held it up over Amethyst's head as she tried to twist around and grab it. In all the commotion the bag had ripped and the dress was in full view of all eyes.

"Nice dress." Garnet said.

Jasper groaned and hit her forehead on the stairs, closing her eyes and hoping to die right then and there. It was bad enough her aunt got her into the dress and that she had bought it but now it didn't help that her sister knew. The scariest thing though was how quiet they were. It made Jasper angry.

"Just say it." Jasper spat not raising her head "I own something girly. I'm going soft."

"Jasper its so... pretty!" Rose said getting off her sister.

Jasper didn't move as her sister went up the stairs. She could see the stars in her eyes before even raising her head. Both sisters started chatting excitedly about prom and dresses and other things as Jasper slowly got up. Garnets hand in her face startled Jasper but she took the offering and got to her feet. They both walked up the stairs as Rose was holding the dress up and appraising it like a prize. Jasper felt her face turn redder then the dress as she looked at her sisters sparkling eyes. "What?"

"I have tights that can go with this." Rose said holding it out for her sister to take. "but your not going to wear boots with this, are you?"

"The hell I'm not." Jasper growled. "I'm wearing something I can walk in at least."

"Then why?" Rose trailed off.

"I wanna look nice for Pearl!' Jasper said throwing her hands up before snatching the dress back "Is that such a bad thing?"

"Its romantic." Garnet said

"Did you show Pearl?" Rose asked.

"I sent her a pic." Jasper said as a smile plastered itself across her face without her concept.

"Aaaaand?" Amethyst asked.

Jasper smiled more "Gave her a nose bleed."

They all burst out laughing and Amethyst was wheezing with her answer "Aww man, she went total anime nerd on you!"

"Worth it." Jasper added.

They laughed about it for a bit longer before the excited chatter about Prom filled the house and the girls weren't the only ones. Time at school flew bye and Prom was upon them. The whole student body was an electric charge ready to be set off. School let out early and everyone was out of the building in under 30 minutes. Everyone in there group, minus Pearl and Peridot, were getting ready to the Quartz's house. The sisters had spent the few days before cleaning the place the best they could. Pearl was getting dropped off and was spending the night after and Jasper was determined to make everything presentable. She was so worried about it that Rose found her in the kitchen wiping down the counters again.

"Stop procrastinating." Rose said walking over.

"Its not clean yet." Jasper mumbled.

"Enough talk." Rose said grabbing her sister by the ear and pulling "Time to get ready."

"Ow, ow, ow!" Jasper growled "Ok, ok!"

Jasper protested the whole way up to her room before managing to smack her sisters hand away. After threatening to break her arm next time she was thrown a pair of tights and sent into her room. Her words of protest fell silent as she stood at the foot of her bed, her dress and now tights laid out before her, ready to be put on. Jasper twiddled her thumbs and huffed before trudging out of her cloths and getting ready. After sitting in her room and shoving her boots on her feet Jasper walked out to see only Garnet in the hallway, a deep purple dress hugging her figure, showing off her legs through a thigh high slit and her skin by thin straps barley holding her top half in.

"Still getting ready." Garnet answered Jasper's look before gesturing to the bathroom "Figured you would need help with your hair."

"If you don't mind."

Garnet nodded and both tall girls went into the bathroom.

"How do you want it?" Garnet asked as she grabbed a brush and started brushing out Jasper's wild hair.

"Out of my face." Jasper said with a shrug "Doesn't matter really."

Garnet hymned before getting to work. After a few minutes Garnet had twisted and pulled Jasper's hair into a braid down her back. It was loose enough to be comfortable but tight enough to stay in place. Thanks to there height, neither girl was uncomfortable the whole time.

"Damn G." Jasper said turning her head to the side before cracking a smile "Gotta have you round to tame this mess for games."

Garnets lips twitched up into a smile as Rose's door opened. They both looked to see Rose bounce out in a sweetheart neckline white dress that flared to a bright neon pink poofy bottom. She smiled big and did a big twirl before looking at her sister. "What do you think?"

"All you need is to dye your eyes pink then you'll be complete." Jasper said. "But not bad bubblegum."

"You look good too." Rose said making Jasper's face red.

Jasper left the bathroom and Rose took her place as Amethyst came out of her room. Her younger sister looked like she was ready to rock the runway in the light purple pants suite she was in. Jasper was surprised not to see her in a dress and when she asked her sister shrugged with a smile.

"Me and Garnet made a bet a while ago and I lost." Amethyst said as she traded places with Rose and Garnet quickly threw her girlfriends hair up into a beautiful twisting bun on her head. Rose herself had her hair twisted and braided into a weird up due that made her look like a glowing goddess. Rose had gone and done her make up while her hair was being done and now she held Jasper by the chin so she could put eyeliner on her.

"What bet?" Jasper mumbled as Rose drew winged eyeliner on her like a boss.

"Sex bet." Garnet said walking past them.

Jasper snorted so hard Rose almost got her in the eye with the pencil. Rose in returned grabbed Jasper's chin again and yanked it down.

"Ow!"

"Quit moving!"

"Bitch."

"Slut."

"How bad did you lose?" Jasper asked as Rose finished.

"She has such high stamina. She could go for days!" Amethyst said throwing her hands up. "Thought I was gonna die."

"Best way to die." Garnet added as the doorbell rang. "You weren't complaining."

"Neither were you!" Amethyst said turning red.

"Course not." Garnet said adjusting her shades with a big smile. "I like the sound of your voice."

The group snickered as the front door opened and closed followed by the appearance of Greg at the top of the stairs. He was in a suit that looked a bit warn and big for him but he rocked it none the less. He even put his hair in a ponytail.

"Wow" Greg said as the doorbell rang again "In a house full of pretty girls, I lucked out with the prettiest."

"Keep it in your pants there Romeo." Jasper said flicking Greg on the nose as she walked by "Get her knocked up, I _will_ kill you."

"Jasper!" Rose snapped.

Jasper couldn't stop smiling as she raced down the stairs. She herd the others following behind her as she reached the landing. When Jasper opened the door her smile turned to one of surprise for Pearl wasn't on the other side but her Aunt Blue. The others stopped on the stairs as Blue looked at them before smiling. "I wanted to bring you girls something. May I come in?"

Jasper silently stood aside and her aunt quickly glided into the house.

"I can't stay long but I thought it was time you three had these." Blue said gliding into the living room. The girls silently followed her but didn't take a few steps past the sofa. They stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched there aunt. Blue placed a box onto the coffee table and opened it as she spoke. "I made these each when you were born, after your names of course."

Blue turned and held three flowers in her hand. Each flower had one of the girls in mind. One flower was orange with a pink jasper gem in the center. The next was red with a pink rose quarts in the center. the last was purple with a pink amethyst in the center. There aunt fiddled with them a bit before stepping forward. She hooked the flowers into the girls hairs as she talked, trying not to cry. "I made them and then colored them when you all had a favorite color. The gems in the center after your names, the color of them for your mother. W-We used to make these growing up so."

Blue couldn't finish her thought as she got choked up. They all stood there in ocward silence before Jasper grunted and rolled her eyes. "This whole family is so damn emotional."

Jasper stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her aunt in a hug that, for the first time, didn't bother her to give. It only lasted a few second but before Jasper could really get away Rose dragged a protesting Amethyst forward and pinned bother her sisters in the center of a hug.

"Rose." Amethyst said with a smile as Rose and Blue laughed.

"Ok I'm getting uncomfortable." Jasper said tilting her head up as to not get her eyeliner smudged.

"Just except it."

"I'm gonna puke."

"Take it like a Quartz."

When the doorbell rang Jasper quickly detangled herself from the soul crushing hug. She jogged to the door as her aunts phone started ringing. Upon swinging the door open she smiled big.

"Wow, I didn't know you could get any prettier." Jasper said without thinking.

Pearls face and hers became instantly red. Pearl was in a beautiful light blue dress that matched her eyes. The straps were thick with a ribbon bunching them up on the top of her shoulders. The gown was a flowy fabric that hugged her figure down to her waist before flaring out in a smooth river behind her but ever so slightly. She stood a few inches taller, almost making her eye level with Jasper's nose. The necklace she got Pearl sat nicely on her skin and just made her eyes shine brighter. Jasper was just staring at her before Pearl held her notebook up in her face.

'Can I come in? Or are you going to mentally take my cloths off more?'

Jasper's face got redder as she stood aside. As Pearl and her parents come into the house she herd her aunt Blue on the phone.

"Yes I'm still on my way... N-No I'm not over there." Blue said grabbing her bag and heading to the door after waving goodbye to the girls.

Watching her leave made Jasper feel funny but the feeling quickly left as she saw Pearl's parents look around, a surprised look on there faces. Rose came over and started talking to Pearl's parents as the slender girl came over to the giant and smiled up at her.

'You look stunning'

'Speak for yourself. Your so beautiful'

'Oh please. Your the one who looks good in a dress though I never thought I would ever see you in one'

'I was looking for a tux but nothing fit and besides, the smile in your face make wearing this thing worth it'

'Don't worry, I'll help you out of it later'

"S-Shut up." Jasper stuttered pressing a kiss to Pearl's forehead.

Before Pearl could write something back her parents had cleared there throats. They gathered the girls to take pictures. Both the doctor and her husband took all the photos on there phones and Rose's so they had to same ones. They got single shots of the girls then the girls off in there respective pairs. They got some of the sisters then there dates and then they shuffled all of them outside. They had Jasper pull her truck down the driveway a bit and had them all stand in front of the garage. They took one group photo and before they could move the doctor told them to hold on.

"Last one." She said smiling "For this one, just be yourselves. Get crazy."

"Oh we can DO crazy." Amethyst said. "Assume to position!"

The sister wasted no time getting goofy. Jasper and Garnet bent down behind Pearl and pulled her back onto there shoulders. The slender girl yelped in surprise that turned to a giggle as the giants stood up with big smiles on there faces. Pearl couldn't stop giggling as she threw her arms up like she was on stage once more with a dazzling smile. Greg and Rose laughed as he jumped up onto Rose's back. She wrapped her arms around his legs as he held his legs straight out like his arms at his sides. Amethyst dropped to the ground and stuck one leg straight up in the air, posing one arm under her head and another on her hip, a goofy look on her smiling face. It took a few try's before Pearl's parents were able to stop laughing long enough to take a steady picture. It also didn't help that the group of teens were a giggling mess as well.

After saying goodbye to Pearl's parents as they left the teen to do there own thing Jasper wasted no time pulling Pearl into a kiss. Pearl's blush reached her ears and Jasper didn't stop kissing her until she felt the slender girl smacking her arm.

"How we doin this?" Jasper asked holding Pearl's hand so she couldn't get very far. "I still need to get Peridot."

"Were going in Greg's van." Rose said "But will follow you to Peridot's."

"Gotta make a big impression." Amethyst said taking her girlfriends hand.

Jasper smiled ear to ear "Lets make it loud."

"Aww yea!" Amethyst shouted running off.

The girls piled into the respected vehicles. As Jasper backed down the driveway she tossed her phone onto Pearl's lap. "Pick a song. Louder the better."

"L-Loud?" Pearl said as Jasper hit the road and waited for Greg to swing his van around.

"There gonna hear us from a mile away."

Pearl smiled as she shifted through Jasper's phone. After a few minutes and a flip off to Greg honking at them from behind, Pearl picked a song. Jasper was snickering as she hooked her phone up then pausing.

"Take the right hearing-aide out. The speaker might blow it." Jasper said.

Pearl nodded and Jasper didn't hit play until she saw Pearl do what she said. After getting a thumbs up from her girlfriend Jasper hit pay and cranked the radio all the way up. Glancing in the mirror she saw Rose and Amethyst throwing there arms up and yelling in excitement. This got Jasper pumped and she hit the gas. The truck roared down the street and she was Pearl laughing out of the corner of her eye. It just got Jasper more pumped. As Peridot's house came into view Jasper hit the gas and then slammed on the breaks, skidding to a stop right out-front of Peridot's house, in her usual parking spot. Jasper stretched her arms straight up but before she could bring her hand to the horn a pale hand was already there. Jasper looked at Pearl surprised as she laid onto the horn causing the giant to start laughing.

Watching Peridot throw open her door and yell made Jasper laugh harder. It was even funnier when she saw both of Jasper's hands hanging out the top of her truck and Pearl leaning over the seat. After killing the engine and getting out Peridot was already stomping over to them.

"Pearl! Your supposed to be on my side!" Peridot snapped.

Pearl came around the truck signing something and it made Peridot more angry. "I don't care if she's in your pants!"

"Should be cause no one else will be." Jasper said wrapping a huge arms round Pearl's shoulders and pulling her close, Pearl in return wrapping her arm around Jasper's waist. "I'm not one to share."

Only then did Peridot notice.

"Why are you in a dress?" The short girl said through nasily snickering.

"I wanted to look nice for her." Jasper said getting embarrassed.

Before Peridot could say anything her mom can out of the house and everyone started snickering as she started fussing over all of them. Peridot's face was so red it almost had then all crying. After another round of pictures, Peridot's mom fussing over all of them about how they were all growing up and such, they all piled back into the cars and rolled up to school more hyped up then when they woke up that morning.

The prom was set up in the gym this year. To save money for the DJ and food and such. The students didn't mind since there already small class couldn't fill another hall like last year. The theme was under the sea. Table dominated the back half of the gym while there was a dance area in the front by a big DJ set up. Various shades of blue ribbons flowed all over the canopy around the room while several bubble makers shot bubbles out all over the dance floor. Thanks to Peridot the room was flooded with lights making it seam like they were under water.

The girls quickly calmed a table and wasted no time going to dace. The music was pounding and lights changing you could of convinced yourself you were really parting under water in Atlantis itself. They all danced in a group, breaking off into smaller pairs then coming back to the main group. Each of them were smiling ear to ear. Jasper herself couldn't take her eyes off her girlfriend. The way Pearl swayed back and forth was like watching water in a calm stream. Her twirls drew anyone's eye to her. It made Jasper that much more happy when she would come over and take her hand, pulling her close to dace a little more sexy. By the time a slow song came on Pearl looked whined.

"Do you wanna take a break?" Jasper asked as she held Pearl close as they swayed back and forth to the song. Pearl shook her head but Jasper could feel her breathing heavy. They swayed for a few minutes more before Jasper stopped. "Lets go get some air."

Jasper let go of Pearl and took her hand. As they made there way off the dace floor she saw Amethyst and Peridot at there table, stuffing there faces.

"Going to get some air." Jasper said "Will be right back."

"I'll cock block you in five." Amethyst said through a mouth full of food.

Jasper flipped her off with a smirk "Need more then five to be romantic."

Both girls almost choked on there food making Jasper chuckle. Her and Pearl slowly walked out the gym doors and slightly around the corner. Leaning against the building Jasper pulled Pearl back to her, looking up at the stars.

"I'm happy you said yes ya know." Jasper said tapping her fingers against Pearl's waist. "I didn't think I would be able to be chill if Lapis- Are you sure your ok?"

Jasper could feel that Pearl was still winded and that her breath was becoming heavier. Jasper let her go as Pearl coughed a bit, covering her mouth. Jasper wasn't sure what to do.

"Hey." Jasper said placing a hand on Pearl's back "What's wrong?"

Pearl waved Jasper off as a more violent cough rocked her body. Jasper felt the color drain from her face as blood dripped from between Pearl's fingers. They locked eyes in shock as Pearl suddenly heaved and blood splattered the grown.


	8. Chapter 8

"J-Jas?"

Jasper's head snapped up to see Amethyst standing a few feet away looking sick. They stood there like idiots until Pearl heaved again.

"Keys!" Jasper shouted at her.

Amethyst scrambled back inside as Jasper turned her attention back to Pearl. The slender dancer was shaking bad. There was no color in her face as blood dripped from her chin. She had a death grip on Jasper's arm. Jasper wrapped her arms around her waist as she heaved again. She was the only thing keeping Pearl on her feet at this point.

"Pearl!" Rose shouted as there whole group came running around the corner. "Where are your meds? Did you take them today?"

Pearl shook her head and started gasping for breath.

"We need to go." Jasper said. In one sweeping motion she had Pearl in her arms and started running towards there cars. "Someone call her parents!"

"Put her in my van!" Greg said "We can lay her down in the front seat."

"No." Jasper growled. "I'll take her in my truck."

"It will be easier-"

"I got her." Jasper snapped as the cars got closer.

"You need to follow us in the truck." Rose said as she yanked her sister to stop at the van "I got her."

Jasper only paused long enough to have Pearl cough blood onto both of them. "You crash you better hope you die before I get to you." She spat as Amethyst yanked the passenger side door open. Jasper put Pearl into the front seat but couldn't get her to let go. "Pearl."

Pearl looked terrified. Her breath was becoming more strained and she was gripping Jasper's arms like she was going to disappear if she let go.

"Its ok." Jasper said pulling her hands off. "I'll be right behind you in the truck."

She planted a quick kiss to Pearl's forehead before turning and running to her truck. Her, Peridot, and Garnet got in the truck as Greg, Rose, and Amethyst piled into the van. Jasper was barley able to put her seat-belt on as she pealed out of the parking spot. She drove right on Greg's bumper as they sped towards the hospital. Peridot was next to her and on the phone with Pearl's parent telling them what happened. They were put on speaker and were trying to talk to Jasper but the giant couldn't hear them. She couldn't hear anything. Her knuckles were white and she had tunnel vision as she drove. It was Deja-vu all over again. She had a sense of impending doom in her chest. She felt like she was going to barf up everything in her stomach. This was the same feeling she got when the hospital had called about there mom. She was driving just as reckless too.

A hand on her shoulder made her jump so bad the truck swerved a bit.

"Breath." Garnet said in her ear. "You can't break down right now."

"I...I" Jasper choked on her words. "I can't lose..."

"Jasper." Peridot placed her hand on her friends arm.

"I can't lose someone I care about again!" Jasper shouted reeling back and sending her fist into her radio. Spark filled the cabin for a moment before another shout filled there ears.

"Jasper, breaks!" Garnet shouted.

Jasper hit the breaks without even thinking. When she blinked everything slowed down before her eyes. Her and Greg slammed on the breaks as two cars came flying through the red-light in front of them. The first car slammed into the right side of the van. The hit was so violent the van did a full 180, the front coming around and hitting the driver side door of the truck. The van hit the truck, sending it flying to the right. The second car hit the passenger side of the truck, snapping it back into the left side of the van. All four cars flew across the pavement and came to rest in the middle of the intersection in a twist of metal and gas. The airbags snapped out after the first hit and Jasper groaned as she wrestled the bag from her now stinging face. She heard whimpering next to her and it took a few blinks before she was able to turn her head.

"M-My legs." Peridot choked out "I-I can't feel my l-legs."

Jasper looked down to see a huge peace of metal that had gone through the door and clean through both Peridot's legs. It was so long that it went partially into her own as well.

"S-Shit." Jasper said. "P-Peri, don't move."

Jasper started pushing Peridot's airbag out of her face and grabbed her hands where the danced over the now darkening patches of her green dress. Peridot was whimpering as Garnet's muffled groan and hands suddenly came from the back seat. Jasper looked up to see her glasses were cracked down the center and steady stream of blood was coming out of her afro and down her temple.

"The others." Garnet said. "I got her."

Jasper suddenly snapped her head forward. Through the cracked windshield she could see the wrecked carnage of the van a few feet away.

"No." Jasper mumbled as she pulled her leg off the metal stabbing into it. "No, no, no."

Jasper tried to shoulder her door open. When that didn't work she quickly pulled herself out the smashed window and fell onto the ground. Jasper paid no mind to the glass and peace's of metal getting shoved through her skin as she scrambled to her feet. She scrambled over to the van and yanked the sliding door open. She felt a ping of release wash over her as Amethyst came into view.

"Ow... What happened?" She said holding her head. She was bleeding from her head but looked ok otherwise. "Jas? Why are there three of you?"

"Car crash." Jasper choked out. "Your good though. Were all-"

Jasper's eyes trailed up and her words stopped in her throat. Just past Amethyst was Rose. Her hair was spayed out wildly around her. She sat there twitching, her body bent to match the curved in door, blood pooling down her body from her head and her head... oh God it wasn't supposed to be shaped like that. Her dress wasn't white anymore and when Jasper saw she wasn't breathing she turned and puked. The image of her mother laying frozen in a casket popped into her mind in that moment.

"Pearl?" Amethyst choked out "Hey, wake up P."

Jasper's head snapped up and she quickly moved to the front door. she pulled on it and then yanked hard when it didn't open. When she got the door open she almost passed out. Pearl was reclined in the front seat. The whole right side of her body was painted red like most of her dress. Her head hung limp to the side and her eyes were closed. She didn't look like she was breathing and Jasper found herself barely able to speak at all.

"Pearl?" Jasper choked out. As she reached out she saw Greg sit up slowly with a groan.

"Ow... Who runs a light like that?" He mumbled. When Greg looked over and saw the blank look on Jasper's face he slowly turned around in his seat. "Rose?"

"O-Oh god." Amethyst cried. "R-R-Rose?"

Jasper's fingers brushed Pearl's cheek. The slender girl let out a whimper from her lips as sirens filled the air, getting closer. Pearl's eyes fluttered for a moment as her left hand twitched on her lap. Jasper quickly grabbed it and squeezed slightly. Pearl opened her eyes slowly as Amethyst started crying in the back seat.

"Its going to be ok." Jasper said looking into Pearl's eyes. Her girlfriend looked around wildly and Jasper realized the hearing-aide was smashed to peace's in her ear. Pearl couldn't hear her. As sirens got closer Jasper reached up and pulled the buzzing peace's out of Pearl's ear. She kept herself in Pearl's line of sight as she started to cough, spilling more blood from her lips. It was taking everything Jasper had not to break down right now and collapse. She couldn't. She needed to be strong for Pearl, for Amethyst, for Peridot. She needed to be strong for herself.

 _I'm not loosing anyone else_ , Jasper thought as shouting filled the air.

"H-Hold on." Jasper said leaning forward. "J-Just stay awake."

Jasper wrapped her arms around Pearl and lifted her from the seat. Pearl coughed out a whimper before her eyes rolled back in her skull. She went limp in Jasper's arms and the world came crashing to a halt in front of her.

"Pearl?...F-Fuck, Pearl!"

**0**

Jasper wasn't supposed to leave her room, let alone walk around but she didn't care. All of them had been taken to the hospital via ambulance. Pearl's parents were on speaker phone when the accident happened and knew what had happened before they even left there house. Jasper, Garnet, and Greg were the ones who lucked out. With only bumps and bruises, minus the now stitched up hole in Jasper's leg, they were the ones who got to talk to the cops about everything. Rose, Pearl, and Peridot had gotten the worst injury's. All three were rushed into surgery when they got here. They had to use the jaws of life to get Peridot out of Jasper's truck because of the metal through her legs. Pearl's heart stopped when Jasper raced her over to the ambulance but they got her breathing again on the way here. Jasper refused to leave Pearl's side and was only removed when they rolled up to the hospital. The doctors never said a word about Rose when Jasper asked and it took a lot for her not to start shouting about it. She knew what had happened and what there answer was going to be but she refused to believe it. She didn't want to believe it... She couldn't.

So now here she sat, right outside Amethyst's room, while a doctor checked her sister out. Jasper became very protective of her younger sister when Pearl's mom wasn't the one checking her out but she was told to sit down and wait or she would be removed back to her room.

Jasper herself was shaking on the bench next to the door. Her good foot bounced up and down on the tile floor as her eyes stayed glued to her hands. Her dark dress was stained darker in big patches across the front. Her hands were a few shades darker from Pearl's blood and she couldn't bring her eyes to look anywhere else. Her hair fell in wild strands around her face as her bouncing ripped the holes in her tights bigger.

 _Why her?_ Jasper thought as she leaned forward and put her face in her hands. _Please god... Why do you take everything from me?_

"Jasper?"

A gentle voice came to the giants ear drums as footsteps came to her. Jasper didn't lookup until she felt hand on her shoulder. She looked through her fingers to see her aunt Yellow kneeling in front of her.

"Are you ok?" Yellow asked.

Jasper let out a sigh and dropped her hands and hung her head. Was she ok? No, she knew she wasn't. Both her sisters, her girlfriend, and best friend were hurt badly. Both the truck and van were totaled, and she didn't even know if Rose, Peridot, or Pearl were ok, let alone alive.

"I'm sorry." Yellow said. her words made Jasper look up at her confused. Yellow let out a sigh and joined Jasper on the bench. She placed a hand on her nieces knee and spoke again. "I'm not the best person in the world. I'm not hard on you and your sisters because I hate you. I'm not mean because I want to ruin your lives. I treat you guys harshly because... Because I don't want you to end up like me and my sisters."

Yellows hand squeezed Jasper's knee for a moment. "We loved your mother very much. We wanted to help but she was so independent that she wouldn't let us. After she passed we saw you three start to change and it hurts us. You guys are doing what we did when our own mother passed away. Amethyst is acting like Blue did. Rose acted like White and you... acted like me."

Yellow let go of Jasper's leg and leaned over the same way she was, running her hand over her face. "We've been horrible aunts to you. Nothing we can say or do will ever fix that but you and your sister always have us, no matter what you need."

Jasper wasn't really listening. The words her aunt said bounced around in her head until she stood up abruptly. She stared at the wall as her sisters room door opened. the doctor didn't get a word out of his mouth before Jasper pushed past him and into the room. She quickly shut the door behind her and locked it. She herd her aunt and the doctor exchange a few words, the only one picked up being 'concussion'.

"Jas?"

Jasper focused on her hand on the door as she herd her sister sit up on the bed. The room was dark and she was happy Amethyst couldn't see the tears start falling down her face.

"We just became a duo." Jasper chucked past the frog in her throat. It took a few minutes of silent agony before Amethyst started whaling. Jasper was at her side in a flash. She sat next to her sister and they just clung to each other in the dark. There world just started to get brighter after everything and now it was thrown back into the dark. Jasper was upset. She was angry. She was pissed. She wanted to beat the hell out of someone. Something. Anything. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs and put her fist through the wall. Amethyst was the only thing keeping her in place. Both sisters death gripped the other as if letting go would be the worst thing possible. The world was ripped out from under them once more and they weren't sure how they were going to get up this time.

Jasper spent the next week at her sisters side. She refused to eat unless Amethyst did and helped her do everything she could. Jasper would lay next to her sister while she slept, fighting off sleep for the nightmares Amethyst would have, needing to wake her up if she couldn't do it herself. Blue had stopped by with Yellow a few times but only long enough to bring the girls some clean cloths and to try to talk to them, which didn't work. All the girls would do would cry or stay silent. It took an hour of Blue talking to Jasper, and her sister nudging her arm, to help her change into clean cloths. After getting Jasper and Amethyst into shorts and comfy tank tops there aunts helped them get the blood out of there hair before Peridot's mom came into the room.

"Thank goodness your both ok." Peridot's mom breath giving each girl a hug they couldn't return. "Peri's been so worried about you."

"She ok?" Jasper managed to ask.

"She's ok but..." Her mom trailed off, taking a breath and wiping tears from her eyes "They had to take her legs from the knee down. There was too much damage to save them."

"She lost her legs?" Amethyst ask gently.

"The doctor said you can go with Jasper to see her now. She's three doors down to the left." Her mom said. "I need to talk to your aunts real quick. Go on ahead."

Jasper and Amethyst quickly got up off the bed and headed to the door. Walking down the hall was slower then Jasper would of liked. She was tempted to just pick her sister up to get to Peridot's room faster but the doctor had said not to do that. She wasn't one to really listen but she was so afraid to lose Amethyst she wasn't about to chance it.

They knocked on Peridot's door when they reached it and after a few moments were told to come in. They only made it a few steps in before stopping. Peridot was sitting up in bed reading a book. She looked fine, a little bruised here and there, until they looked down and saw something missing. Peridot was missing her legs below the knee and they could see her twitch uncomfortably at there gaze.

"Sorry Perri." Amethyst said as both sister walked over and sat on either side of there friend.

"They say its phantom pain." Peridot said putting her book aside and moving her legs a bit. "It will go away eventually but I still feel like I can wiggle my toes."

"That mean your gonna get robot parts now?" Amethyst asked leaning on Peridot's shoulder.

"I even get to pick the color." Peridot said "I'm going with green."

"Great now your gonna be an even bigger nerd." Jasper said making them snicker for a moment. They sat in silence, staring at Peridot's legs, until she spoke up.

"My mom told me what happened when I woke up." Peridot said wrapping an arm around each of there shoulders "I'm sorry."

Amethyst sniffled as a few tears fell down her face but Jasper couldn't cry anymore. She felt so numb. Both girls rubbed Amethyst's back for a bit until there was a knock at the door. After Peridot told them to come in the door opened to Garnet and Greg. They both came in and placed themselves at the foot of the bed, unintentionally sitting where Peridot's feet would have been. Greg and Garnet gave there condolences and the group spent a few hours talking and comforting each other with a few jokes when Jasper looked up to see a flash of Mr. Maheswaran past the window.

This caused Jasper to jump to her feet and flash out of the room. She ignored the others as she looked both ways down the hallway to see where Mr. Maheswaran went. She rocked from foot to foot until picking a direction and fast walking down the hall. As Jasper blindly walked the halls she was kicking herself harder then she ever had before. How could she forget about her girlfriend. She was busy talking and smiling with the others while Pearl was god knows where doing god knows what from god forsaken injury's. After a few minutes she caught Pearl's dad go into an room and she slowed her pace. She started walking towards the room he went into when someone caught her eye and she stopped dead in her tracks. Jasper turned as walked right up to the window of the darkened room in front of her.

Laying on the bed inside was Pearl. She was still as a statue and looked like she was just sleeping instead of recovering in a hospital. Her arms were at her sides and hooked up to several machines that were beeping and whirling around her. From here Jasper could see her whole right arm was bandaged up to her shoulder and the right side of her face had gauze over it. She had a breathing tube on her face and she had a peaceful look about her. Jasper turned and grabbed the door handle but was stopped by a voice.

"Jasper Quartz." Dr. Maheswaran said making Jasper's hand twitch. "You can't go in there."

"I have to make sure she's ok." Jasper said staring a hole through the floor. "I've lost so much... S-She has to be ok."

Both of Pearl's parents walked up and paced a hand on Jasper. They slowly guided her from the door and to the bench across the hall. Both of them tried to talk to Jasper but they saw that she wasn't really listening. She was busy staring at Pearl through the window. She had such a haunted look on her face they were both worried she would freeze in place. After taking her husband aside and filling him in on everything that had happened with the others, including Rose, Dr. Maheswaran quickly came back over.

"Let me go see if she can have visitors." She said before walking off.

Jasper nodded numbly as Mr. Maheswaran came back over and sat next to her.

"If you need help with anything of just someone to talk to, me and my wife are here for you and your sister." He said patting Jasper's leg. "We don't want you to feel like your both alone through all this again..."

Jasper said nothing but leaned over and placed her head on his shoulder. Mr. Maheswaran said nothing in return as he rubbed small circles on her back. The jester itself felt forren but nice, like a memory from long ago. Jasper found that she had closed her eyes and started to drift off as soft words came to her ears.

"Is she awake?" She herd Dr. Maheswaran asked softly.

"I'm not sure." Her husband said.

"I didn't want to see them go through this again." The doctor replied "They spiraled so bad."

After a few moments of silence they spoke once more.

"What did they say?" Mr. Maheswaran asked.

"I need to go in first and she if she is stable enough or even awake before Jasper can see her."

"She really cares about her." Mr. Maheswaran said as he stopped rubbing Jasper's back, instead moving to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

"She does." His wife said.

"And here we thought she was a bad influence." He chuckled "Yet she saved her life twice."

"Let me go check on Pearl." The Doctor said. After a pause and a click Jasper and Pearl's dad were alone again in the hallway.

"Your mother would be so proud of you." He said softly.

"I'd hope so." Jasper mumbled making him jump as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Sorry."

"Don't be. You look like you haven't slept since you got here."

"I haven't."

After another long wait Dr. Maheswaran poked her head out of Pearl's room. "Jasper, you can come in now."

Jasper shot to her feet and quickly joined Dr. Maheswaran at the door. The doctor stepped aside and Jasper walked in slowly. She moved to the end of Pearl's bed and just froze. Her girlfriend was awake and looking at her. A small smile painted her face as her mom came up to them.

"Sit on her left. She currently can't turn her head to the right." Dr. Maheswaran said softly.

Jasper nodded and quickly moved. She grabbed one of the only chairs in the room and brought it right next to the bed. She sat down and got a good look at her girlfriends face. She could see the dark bruise poking out from under the gauze on her cheek. She could hear how her breath was a bit forced through her mouth and how the heart monitor picked up ever so slightly when she reached out and took her hand.

"Even looking like crap, your still cute." Jasper said spying her now only hearing aid in her ear, facing her. "Come to the conclusion you just can't be ugly."

Pearl rolled her eyes but a hymn passed her lips and Jasper managed to smile a bit. She ran her thumb over the back of Pearl's hand as she stared at there fingers. She couldn't quite place the feeling in her chest but she felt...something. She felt a little calmer holding onto the hand of the girl who could stop any storm in her head. The darkness in her mind seems to recede enough to let her enjoy this moment.

"I'm happy your ok. I was so afraid we weren't going to make it here in time. Then the accident..." Jasper said as Pearl squeezed her hand. "Why did she get sick like that?"

Jasper looked up to see a slightly panicked look on Pearl's face as she turned to look at her mom. The doctor looked at Jasper a bit surprised. "She didn't take her medication. We found that she hasn't taken it all week."

"What?" Jasper turned her gaze back to Pearl. "Why would you do that?"

Pearl looked away and winced as she tried to turn her face.

"Why would you be so reckless? Your smarter then this Pearl..."

"Please look at me." Jasper whispered. Pearl was blinking tears from her eyes but refused to look at her girlfriend. It broke a peace of Jasper's chest. She couldn't understand why she would be so careless like this. She was always so calculated with her decisions. She, never once, forgot to take her meds. No matter what she was doing or where they were going she would take them. She took great care in keeping herself from getting triggered and sick that this was out of character for her. It wasn't Pearl.

"What changed." Jasper said standing up and letting go of Pearl's hand and turning to her mom. "What's wrong with her?"

"Jasper." The Doctor said coming up to her side. "Her sickness is coming back, stopping the meds ramped up its spread."

"Why... Why would you stop taking your meds? Do you understand how scared everyone was that we were going to loose you?" Jasper's voice started getting louder until she was shouting. "I'm fucking loosing everything and I can't loose you too! Peridot just lost her fucking legs, Amethyst has a concussion, and you almost died in my arms! You can't do this... I can't lose someone else I care about!" Jasper ran her hands through her hair as she paced the room before heading to the door "I-I need some air."

Leaving the room was hard. Walking away from Pearl was harder. Knowing that she self sabotaged herself was impossible to wrap her head around. Why would she want to end her life like that? She has the chance to live and keep moving forward. Jasper's mom didn't have that choice. Rose didn't have that choice. Pearl did and it pissed Jasper off to no end that she would throw it all away like this.

Jasper blindly walked around for a bit before coming back to Pearl's room. She managed to get a small notepad and pen from a nurses station a few minutes into her walk. Coming back into the room she was alone with Pearl. When her girlfriend saw it was her she closed her eyes. Jasper walked back over and sat beside her. They sat in silence for a bit before Jasper took Pearl's hand and put her head on her shoulder.

"Don't do that again... Please Pearl." Jasper turned and nuzzled into her neck a bit "I can't loose you like this. Your so important to me and everyone around you."

"We love you Pearl." She felt Pearl's tears on her cheek but she didn't move. "We all love you so much."

Jasper just held Pearl's hand and let her cry it out. There was nothing she could think to say or do to make this situation better. Pearl was basically trying to kill herself and it ripped into both of them. Jasper would cry as well if she could but right now she just felt numb. Jasper ran her thumb over the back of Pearl's hand as she planted a kiss to her neck gently. After a while she sat back up and wiped the tears from the slender girls eyes.

"When you get out of here, I'll make sure to make your neck darker then it is now." Jasper said with a wink "Not gonna let a car out due me on that pretty skin."

When Pearl snorted out a laugh and cough Jasper smiled a bit. She placed the notepad on the bed and then gently placed the pen in Pearl's hand. Her girlfriend gave her a funny look as she glanced down.

"Figured it would be easier to talk this way."

'Where did you get this? The nurses aren't supposed to give these to anyone.'

"I may or may not of snagged it on my way past a nurses station."

'Jasper! You just can't go around stealing things in a hospital.'

"I didn't steal it. I borrowed it." Jasper said with a big smile as Pearl rolled her eyes hard then winced.

'Your impossible.'

"Impossibly yours." Jasper purred. When the heart monitor beeped a little faster she chuckled "This is gonna be fun."

The next hour Jasper spent it talking to Pearl and making her laugh. She also spent it making dirty jokes to see how fast she could get her heart to beat. It got so bad that one of the nurses, including Pearl's mom, came in and told her if she keeps it up she will have to leave. This just made both of them laugh but Jasper reeled back on the jokes.

Soon there was a knock on the door.

"You ok with someone else coming in?" Jasper asked Pearl. After a nod she looked to the door. "Come in."

The door swung open and in came Amethyst followed by Garnet pushing Peridot in a wheel chair and Greg. Amethyst came over and sat in her sisters knee as Garnet pushed Peridot over to Pearl's bad side. "How you feeling P?"

Pearl raised her hand she shook it side to side a bit before placing it down again.

"That's understandable." Peridot said adjusting the blanket on her lap. "You gave us a real scare."

'I'm sorry.'

"Don't be P." Amethyst said "Were all happy your ok."

"And breathing." Garnet said.

"I don't think I've ever seen Jasper so scared in her life." Amethyst said "You sure know how to give us a heart attack. You should run a haunted house."

This earned a chuckle from Pearl and Amethyst smiled before wincing.

'What happened exactly? I don't remember anything after getting in Greg's van.'

"We were racing to get you over here." Greg said sitting on the edge of the bed. "A drunk driver and someone chasing them ran a red light and caused a big accident."

'How big of an accident?'

"Both the van and truck are totaled." Greg answered.

'Both?'

"I may or may not of been driving really close to Greg's bumper."

"Stupid close." Garnet added leaning on the handles of the wheelchair.

"I was worried." Jasper said frowning "I thought I was going to loose her."

An ocward silence filled the air until Pearl asked a question.

'Where's Rose?'

The others went stone cold still as the air got heavy. Pearl looked around at everyone and traced a question mark in the air that no one wanted to acknowledge. Peridot fiddled with her blanket, Greg and Garnet looked at each other then away and Jasper kinda just froze in her chair, her eyes glued to Pearl's hand. Amethyst shuffled uncomfortably a bit before speaking up. "She got banged up pretty bad like you did. She's off in a different room sleeping right now."

'I hope she's ok.'

"Don't worry about her Pearl." Garnet said softly "Just focus on getting better."

"Y-Yea." Jasper said plastering a fake smile on her face that only Amethyst could see through. "Its gonna be hard to take you on a date if you want to give up like that."

"Smooth." Amethyst muttered as Pearl looked down a bit defeated before writing something.

'I won't do it again.'

"Better not." Jasper said leaning forward and planting a kiss to Pearl's head. "Can't make you loud in a hospital bed."

Pearl face flushed red as the others laughed. The room door opened and an annoyed nurse stood there, arms crossed. The laughter faded and Jasper's face turned red. She looked at the heart monitor to see it going crazy next to her. "Oops."

"Everyone out." the nurse said.

With silly smiles plastered on there faces and a few pats, hugs, and a forehead kiss goodbye, they all shuffled out of the room. Jasper looked back into the room and waved at her girlfriend before walking off with her sister.

**0**

The next two weeks went by in a blur. Jasper and Amethyst had stopped going to school and there Aunts were understanding. They sent them home with all there work and surprisingly helped them keep up with there schooling. The girls were just as surprising to except the help. There aunts took care of everything to do with Rose and such. They simply told the sisters to focus on getting better. So now most days when they weren't home they were either at the hospital spending time with Pearl or out with Peridot and Garnet. Today in particular Pearl was finally able to leave her room. Her parents had told both Jasper and Amethyst that they could not, under _any_ circumstances, race the wheelchair around the hospital.

Jasper was currently leaning up against the wall. She was watching two nurses and Dr. Maheswaran help Pearl into a wheelchair. She had asked if she could help but was firmly told no and to wait against the wall. She watched as Pearl winced with each movement of her right leg and arm. They had to stop a few times as her breath hitched in her throat from a sudden throb of pain. Her mom almost told her she wasn't getting up but Pearl waved her off and continued to move. After Pearl promised to take her meds and not do anything stupid again she was determined to improve. Every time she was able to do a bit more of anything Jasper got excited. It in turn made Pearl excited and even more set to get better then she already was.

The thing was, she wasn't getting better. Her parents had pulled Jasper aside before coming to get Pearl that her sickness was getting far worse then it should. They had told the giant to be extra gentle with Pearl and to not make her upset at all. They were afraid that if she were to even cry it could kill her. They had upped Pearl's pain medication so she wouldn't feel a thing. Due to the accident they couldn't give her the proper does she needed to fully recover. From here on out it was going to be an up hill battle where she will more then likely loose.

Telling Jasper all this had actually made her physically sick. It took everything she had now to stand in the room with her girlfriend and not cry. She put on the best act of calm she could. She was determined. _Nothing_ was going to ruin this time for Pearl. She wasn't giving up and neither was her girlfriend.

When Pearl was finally in the wheelchair she was winded but smiling. The nurses unhooked her various wires and made sure she was comfortable with a blanket on her lap before allowing Jasper to leave her perch. Pearl was busy writing in her notebook as Jasper came over and grabbed the handles on her wheelchair.

"Jasper." Dr. Maheswaran said getting her attention. "Remember what I said."

"I know. I know. Don't make her upset, don't race in the hallways, and don't break anything and get in trouble." Jasper said with a smile. "Were actually going to see Peridot. She is getting her new legs today."

"Well ok. Just be back-"

"Be back before dinner. I know Doc." Jasper said staring to push Pearl forward. "We will be. I gotta... gotta go spend time with Rose tonight anyway... with Ame."

Without another word Jasper quickly pushed Pearl out of her room. Truth was tonight was Rose's viewing. Jasper really didn't want to go. Its not that she didn't care, because she cared greatly, she just didn't want to see her sister in a box. She didn't want all the memories of there mothers passing to mix into Rose's and blur everything into the dark again. It sucked even more because they were having the serves tomorrow morning. Both sisters had to go to both and Jasper didn't think they could handle it. Jasper shook the thoughts from her head as Pearl held up her notebook.

'What did my parents talk to you about?'

"What do you mean?"

'In the hallway. I saw you get sick.'

Jasper bit the inside of her cheek as they came to the end of the hallway. As she pushed the elevator button she saw Pearl tapping the arm rest on her chair.

"We were talking about your sickness." Jasper said as the elevator dinged. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Pearl's parents standing there, looking at her with a stair that could cripple a monster.

'And? Is it that bad..., that it made you sick?'

"N-No." Jasper said watching the elevator doors open. "I got sick because... They told me you were getting better faster then they thought. I was just so happy I lost my lunch."

'Really?' Pearl wrote as Jasper pushed her into the elevator.

"Course. But I rather loose my lunch over you getting to leave the hospital when you get well enough." Jasper said turning Pearl around to face the doors "Can't stargaze without you. Its no fun."

This made Pearl chuckle and Jasper couldn't help herself. As the doors closed she leaned down and rested her chin on Pearl's good shoulder. She leaned her head against Pearl's for a moment before planting a kiss on her cheek. Pearl's face got a bit red at the attention and it just made Jasper smile more. When the elevator doors opened it was a quick walk down the hall. Peridot was moved to one of the lower floors this morning. She was excited to get her new legs and wanted everyone to be there. Jasper was happy that Pearl was able to leave her room, she would of snuck her down here anyway.

They came up to Peridot's door and knocked quickly. Soon after the door opened to Garnet on the other side. She smiled gently at the duo before her and stepped aside for them to come in.

"Look who's out of bed." Amethyst said as Jasper pushed Pearl into the room. "You look great P."

Pearl signed a thanks to Amethyst as Jasper pushed her over to the bed. "Where do you want us?"

"Against the window is fine." Peridot said.

Jasper nodded and quickly maneuvered Pearl so her back was to the window. Jasper then sat on the chair next to her girlfriend and couldn't help but chuckle at her best friends face. She didn't think Peridot's smile could get any wider. She was back in her normal cloths but instead of jeans she was in a pair of Amethyst's borrowed shorts. Her mom was busy today so she couldn't bring her cloths. The sister didn't mind though. They had plenty here they kept in Pearl's room for the nights they would accidentally crash on the sofa.

"Your going to break the bed." Garnet said as she walked over to the other side of Pearl and sat on the windowsill, pulling her girlfriend back onto her lap.

"I can't help it." Peridot said bouncing in place. She was so excited and it showed.

Within an hour the people with her new legs were here. They had come in with several nurses and, after telling the others to stay put or leave, began to give Peridot instructions. As they talked Jasper leaned over and rested her head on the arm of Pearl's wheelchair. Her arms were crossed over her lap loosely as one of her hands idol-lily ran up and down Pearl's leg. Pearl herself ran her fingers through Jasper's hair while she had a sided conversation with Amethyst and Garnet.

Jasper was watching her best friend taking off and putting on her prosthetic's a few times but she wasn't really focused on it. Her mind kept wondering to tonight. Oh how she didn't want to step foot in a funeral home but she had no choice in the matter. She was thinking of ways to make the time pass quickly tonight when Pearl's fingers tapped against her temple gently.

"Hmm?" Jasper hymned as she sat up. Pearl tapped her notebook in her lap as she rubbed her eye a bit.

'Can you take me back to my room? I'm a bit tired.'

"Yea no problem." Jasper said standing. "Hey Peri, I'm taking Pearl back to her room. I'll catch up with you later."

"I'm coming too. Will be right back." Amethyst said jumping up and giving her girlfriend a kiss as Peridot waved them off.

The walk back to the elevator was quiet. As they moved Jasper could see Pearl start to slouch a bit. The slender girl adjusted herself in her seat and yawned when they reached the elevator.

"You look tired P." Amethyst said hitting the button. "You sure your ok?"

'I'm fine thank you. I'm just tired is all.'

"This was your first day out of your room." Jasper said as the doors opened and they pushed Pearl inside.

'Must of used more energy then I thought to get out of the bed.'

"Your were basically a veggie for 4 weeks." Amethyst said as the elevator took them to Pearl's floor "Your basically jello."

"Tasty jello." Jasper teased as the elevator stopped and they got out.

'Oh please. Your so bad.' Pearl giggled at her words.

"Well I gotta get it out now before we get to your room." Jasper said leaning forward and kissing Pearl's head "Don't want your mom to smack the back of my hand again."

"Yea that shit hurts." Amethyst said shaking her hand dramatically making them laugh.

Amethyst walked off to get Pearl's nurse as Jasper wheeled them back into Pearl's room. She lined the wheelchair up with the bed like she had seen before. From there they waited until several nurses came in and helped Pearl back onto her bed. After hooking her up to several monitors they quickly left, telling Jasper that visiting hours were almost over. Jasper and Amethyst both took a seat on either side of Pearl's bed. After a while Amethyst talked them into playing 20 questions. Several rounds later and Pearl was winning by a mile.

"Your too good at this." Amethyst groaned as she ran her hand down her face.

"Nah, were just too dumb." Jasper said from where she was leaning on the bed, placing a kiss to Pearl's cheek.

'Your not dumb. Your just not thinking logically.'

"Easy for you to say miss straight A's" Amethyst grumbled "Ok I got the next item, you guess first P."

'Is it alive?'

"Yes."

"Can it kill you?" Jasper asked.

"Really?" Amethyst said.

"What?"

"You always ask that question."

"Do not."

'Technically anything can kill you.'

"Not helping babe."

"Focus." Amethyst said "I made this really hard."

"Doubtful."

"Fight me."

'Is it bigger then a bus?'

"I mean- well technically speaking it can be, yea."

'Is it-'

Jasper frowned as she watched Pearl write in her notebook. When her hand smeared the pencil across the page she grunted in confusion. Before she could ask what was up Amethyst sent a chill down her spine.

"Pearl?"

Jasper sat up and looked to see that Pearl's eyes had rolled in her head and her lids partially closed. Jasper looked at her sister before turning back to Pearl. Her chest was rising and falling slowly and then just stopped. Her head fell to the side and the heart monitor started making a high pitched whining. Jasper and Amethyst locked eyes for a second before Jasper sprung to her feet. Her fist slammed into the emergency button above the bed and her chair clattered to the floor.

"Pearl?" Jasper said taking her hand as Amethyst started tapping and shaking her shoulder "Pearl?"

In seconds the room was flooded with nurses and doctors. Jasper and Amethyst were quickly pushed back against the wall as they all surrounded Pearl. They laid then bed flat and started shouting. Jasper was frozen in place as several arms wrapped around her and started to pull. Words were jumbled in the air and gravity did little to move her. She didn't snap out of her trance until she was shoved out the door.

"Wait-Pearl!" Jasper shouted as the door closed in her face. Her and Amethyst quickly shuffled over to the window. The nurses were tossing the blanket to the side as a doctor opened the front of Pearl's gown. Past there fast moving bodies they could see them tilt Pearl's head back and insert a tube into her throat.

"Jasper."

"What happened?"

Jasper turned to see Pearl's parents coming up the hallway quickly. There was a snapping sound and when she looked back the curtains were drawn over the window.

"She was ok." Jasper choked out. "She said she was tired so we came back."

"We were playing 20 questions" Amethyst added.

"Then she just stopped breathing." Jasper said. "She stopped everything."

Pearl's parents started talking back and forth quickly while Amethyst clung to her sister. Jasper ran her hands up into her hair and took shaky breaths.

"Oh god." Jasper choked out as she pulled at her hair. "P-Please be ok."

IT was several agonizing minutes of all four bodies pacing the hallway before the nurses and doctors came out of Pearl's room. In a flash her parents were right in the doctors face along with Amethyst. Jasper was frozen a few feet away but couldn't hear there conversation. She couldn't hear anything. Her chest felt tight and her head swam with pain. Oh stars above she hoped everything was ok. That Pearl was ok and alive. and breathing. Just not dead. Anything but dead.

"Jasper."

Jasper jumped at see Pearl's parents in front of her.

"How bad." Jasper asked. She knew it was bad and she didn't want to be lied too. "No sugar coating, no bullshit... Please."

Her voice was soft and hurt and both adults looked more hurt then she felt.

"Her right lung collapsed and she had stopped breathing." Mr. Maheswaran said "IF you didn't hit the call button she would be gone."

"I'm all for the hero dynamic but she needs to stop scarring us." Amethyst said coming up and taking her sisters hand. "When can we see her?"

"Not for a few hours." Dr. Maheswaran said "We need to make sure she is going to stay breathing.

"After the viewing will be fine." Mr. Maheswaran added quickly when the sister faces dropped. "Just come back and will let you know what's up ok?"

Jasper could only nod stiffly. As her and Amethyst left the hospital and went through the motions at the funeral home the ground was shaking under Jasper's feet. Every step felt like the ground would crumble out from under her feet. The air felt like it was suffocating her. She felt like she was gasping for air with every breath. Her hands felt cold as her chest felt numb. The only thing making her move forward was her being able to go check on Pearl after everything.

Jasper was bouncing her foot impatiently as her and the others rode the elevator up to Pearl's floor. She had wanted to come alone but they told her they were all going. They knew the sisters needed the support and were more then happy to give it to them.

"What do you guys wanna do when Pearl get out of here?" Greg asked trying to lighten the mood, which it did a bit.

"Take her to the beach." Amethyst said. "She needs some sun, she too pale."

"I like her pale." Jasper said with a chuckle "Easier to show off my marks."

"Hickey master." Garnet said earning a round of giggled from the pair.

"We could all stargaze." Jasper said.

"Oh yes!" Amethyst said jumping out of the elevator when the doors opened "We could do a camp out in the backyard and roast marshmallows and tell stories!"

Jasper smiled as they all filed out of the elevator. They talked and laughed as they walked, making the mood lighter. Jasper had a good feeling about things right now. The hardest part of her day was over.

When they neared Pearl's room Jasper looked up and stopped dead in her tracks. She felt the ground under her shake as tears brimmed in her eyes. Pearl's parents were standing outside her door, arms around each other and tears falling down there faces. When they spied the group of teens the doctor turned and put her face into her husbands shoulder. The world came crashing down around Jasper. She fell to her knees and everything became blurry. The darkness in her head just clouded everything as sobs rocked her body.

Such a cruel way the universe played her cards.


	9. Chapter 9

Jasper couldn't bring herself to walk over to Pearl's parents in the funeral home. They had Pearl cremated because her body was so banged up that having a closed casket felt like an insult to her memory. Jasper just looked at them for a moment as her sister left her with Garnet and Peridot so she could go talk to them and pay her and Jasper's respects. They understood why the oldest sister couldn't come up to them. She could barley do anything other then stand and breath with even that being hard.

Amethyst was death gripping her hand as she walked around. Jasper paid no one any mind as they tried to talk to her. Jasper just kept her eyes on the floor and let Amethyst guild her. Eventually they stopped and her sister squeezed her hand.

"She was really cute when she was younger too huh." Amethyst said nudging Jasper's arm.

Jasper looked up to see that they had stopped in front of a poster board. The board was filled with pictures of Pearl growing up. They started off when she was about 4 or 5, the time she was adopted and progressed from there. There were pictures of her at dance practices and birthday parties. Pictures of her hanging out with friends and surprisingly fencing competitions. Pearl next to trophies and on family vacations. They looked like the perfect family until she hit high school. There were few pictures of Pearl as she was now, and judging by the looks and smiles it was around the time she got sick. She was thinner and paler then her younger self with a lost look in her eyes. Kinda like the life was being zapped away. The pictures got a little more sad before the last few caught her eyes. Toward the bottom of the board was a picture of Pearl and Jasper at the piano.

Jasper was surprised to see herself on the board. The picture was taken when she had asked Pearl about her hearing loss for the first time. She had her arm around her and was holding her close. As her eyes looked to the next picture and then the next she felt her walls start to crumble bit by bit.

The next picture was of her and Pearl eating ice-cream on there skip day. The picture captured the moment Pearl was mid laugh with Jasper giving her a big cheesy smile. The following one was of Pearl's face in shock with the ice-cream stuck to her forehead, Jasper planting a kiss on her cheek. The following was a selfie Amethyst took on there skip day with her in the front seat, Peridot and Pearl leaning close together throwing up the peace sign. The next was of them posing for there prom pictures. One of Pearl by herself, one of her and Jasper, and the next two of there serious and silly group photos. Pearl looked so happy sitting on her and Garnet's shoulders in the picture. The next few were taken at prom itself. Pearl dancing and posing with Amethyst for a picture. Her mid twirl with Jasper and them all making silly faces in a spur of the moment photo on the dance floor. The last one was of Jasper and Pearl in the hospital. It was when Pearl was mid laugh at one of Jasper's comments while they played 20 questions in her room. It was the last picture of them. Of her.

Jasper wiped the tears from her face as a voice came to her ears.

_"Pearl that was amazing!"_

Jasper looked up confused as she walked around the corner.

_"You gotta dance again! I got the perfect song too!"_

Both her and Amethyst stopped to watch the projector in the adjoining room. It was set up and had been playing some of Pearl's dances and fencing competitions. Now it played something both girls would never forget.

_"Kick her butt Pearl!"_

As music filled the room Jasper let out a pained chuckle. On screen was her and Pearl on there skip day. They both were jumping around the dance dance revolution machine as 'Shots' played over the speakers. Amethyst and Peridot were the loudest out of all of them. You could barley hear the song over there singing and the couples jumping. When they started dancing with the people on the screen Jasper felt herself smiling. She didn't realize how in sync with each other they were. They flowed with the music and sang along as the camera shook, her sister starting to dance as well. She could never get over how hypnotizing Pearl's dancing was. Her arms and legs flowed with any rhythm and you could see how she put her whole heart into every movement. The sounds of laughter had brought most of the people in the funeral home over to watch. Jasper could hear a few people chuckling behind her as the song ended with both girls doing a dramatic pose at the end.

Jasper brought shaking hands to her face as the song stopped and they all shouted and cheered on screen. Watching herself hug Pearl and Pearl jumping around happy made her heart full and break more at the same time. She tried to control the tears on her face to no avail.

She would do anything to see her smile again.

As they started the serves Jasper and the others took there seats. Jasper sat towards the back with Amethyst as the others took a seat in front of them. As the preacher spoke and her parents Jasper felt...nothing. Everything was numb. Everything was black and white. Every thing in her head was in the grey and Jasper had no desire to pull herself out of this fuzzy area. Why would she? She lost everything. Her sister died trying to save her girlfriend. Her girlfriend died because she got sick again. Jasper was finally happy, finally trying to make something of herself. She had a reason to live and a smile on her face when it was all taken away again.

"Jasper."

The giant looked up from her intense stair at the floor to see Pearl's parents standing in front of her. She stood as Mr. Maheswaran cleared his throat. When Jasper gave them her full attention he held out the box to her.

"We want you to have this." He said.

Jasper looked at the box and took it from him slowly. It was a simple shoe box with a little weight to it. Jasper ran her thumbs along its surface as Dr. Maheswaran spoke up.

"We found this under her bed. The things inside had your name on them so we figured she would want you to have it. We don't know what's inside, we wanted to let you have privacy to them."

"Thanks." Jasper said looking at the box a bit more before looking up "That means a lot to me."

Both adults gave Jasper and her sister a hug before walking off to talk to other people. When the serves was done it was a quiet ride back to the house in Garnet's car. Jasper held the box on her lap and just stared at it. Jasper quietly went to her room and locked herself inside when they got back to the house. She couldn't drag her eyes from the floor as she moved and sat on the floor, leaning back against her bed.

When they had come back from the hospital the first time they couldn't walk up the stairs. They camped out on the sofa for a few nights until they asked Garnet to do them a favor. They asked her to go upstairs and take Rose's stuff from the bathroom and place it on her dresser, shutting the door behind her. Garnet nodded but did one better. Like what they did with there moms stuff, she silently moved around the house and took everything of there sisters and put it in her room. She did it while the girls had slept. They had told her she didn't need to do that but they were both grateful for her consideration.

Jasper put the box on her lap and ran her fingers over it a bit more before taking off the lid. Inside were several letters, a picture and a CD. Jasper took the letters out and read over them. Three of them were Pearl's thoughts on Jasper. How cute she thought Jasper was, how excited she got when the giant asked her to play the piano and wanted to listen. She talked about how she like how wild Jasper's hair was and how excited she got to see her at the beach party. The last letter was how much she enjoyed her birthday and flowers. How much she loved her necklace and how happy she was. She even wrote down how amazing her first time was and how happy she was that it was with Jasper. Jasper's face was red as she went into detail about how nice she felt and how gentle Jasper was, despite the hickey on her neck, aaaaand how she wanted to do it again.

After reading the other letters in the box, ranging from her sickness to more mushy couple stuff, Jasper moved onto the single picture in the box. The picture was of Pearl and Jasper. It was the first time they interacted. Jasper was sitting on the floor as Pearl was playing the piano. It was a hidden shot from somewhere in the stage. Jasper turned the picture over to see her sisters scratchy hand writing.

' _You both are so cute ya nerds. Let this be motivation to talk to her more! I know you like her and she is single! -Ame'_

Jasper snorted at her sisters attempt to make Pearl flustered. It made her a bit happy to know Pearl liked her back, even back then. She would have to thank Amethyst later for being a pain in the butt. Next was the CD.

Jasper put everything back in the box and put it aside as she put the CD on her bed. She fished under her bed for a bit until she pulled out a CD player her mom had given her when she was little. She dusted it off and after checking that the batteries were still good, turned it on. She found a pair of headphones and put them on. She plugged the headphones in and placed the CD in the player. After readjusting herself on the floor she hit play.

 _"Its recording_." A gentle voice said over the CD. There was a shuffling then a clicking of a door in the background. After a moment Jasper felt the tears falling down her face.

_'All I wanna do, is see myself with you'_

_'As more then just friends, more then just friends'_

_'My giant woman, as your girlfriend'_

_'All I wanna do is just hold hands with you'_

_'My giant woman, as your girlfriend'_

_'All I wanna do, is be more to you'_

_"Then just your friend, to be your girlfriend'_

Jasper was trying to muffle her cries with her hand as Pearl's words filled her head and cracked what was left of her heart.

_'You may even like being together, and if you don't it won't be forever'_

_'But all I wanna do is be by you'_

_'As your girlfriend, to be your girlfriend'_

_'Cause all I wanna do, is hold on to you'_

_'As my girlfriend'_

This was the last straw. It broke Jasper. IT broke her so bad. She loved when she could hear Pearl talk to her, even if it was a few words. But her voice. Oh her voice was beautiful. As sang with such heart in her voice and love with her piano strokes. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. how could the universe take everything from Jasper that made her happy? Made her smile? It just broke her into tiny peace's she was sure she would never be able to recover from... Not again. True she had Amethyst still but she had Garnet. She had her rock while Jasper was floating alone.

Jasper spent the night sitting on her floor, listening to Pearl sing over and over again to her. The dark thoughts and images in her head flashed before her eyes and helped her make a decision. A decision that no one would ever want her to make. A decision that was stupid as it was dumb but a decision she was happy with.

As morning broke the horizon sky Jasper got to her feet. With eerie calmness she dressed herself and kneeled next to her bed. She rummaged around under her bed a bit and grabbed the metal box she kept hidden there. She opened it and put its content in her waist band, pulling her shirt down to cover it. They were supposed to turn it in after there mom had passed, since she was licensed to carry, but the sisters kept it as a way for self protection if there blunt instruments weren't enough.

Jasper left her room with pep in her step. She glided down the hallway and then the stairs with ease. As she opened the front door she saw Garnet coming up the sidewalk with groceries bags in her hand.

"I know I can't talk you out of your decision." Garnet said as Jasper passed her, making the giant pause only a step away. "But know that it will break her."

"Take care of them." Jasper place her hand on Garnet's shoulder "There going to need a rock in there rough waters."

"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Garnet asked turning to look at Jasper. jasper looked back and gave her a genuine smile. Garnet could see the decision in her face the moment she opened the door. She had seen it before and knew the look well.

"Tell Ame not to follow us to fast." Jasper turned her eyes forward as she patted Garnet on the shoulder. "Take care Garnet. Thanks for everything."

The girls didn't exchange another word as Jasper put her hands in her pockets and walked off. Jasper walked for a while, the sky growing dark and rumbling over head. As the rain started to fall she found herself standing on the cliff side facing Dead Mans Mouth. She watched the sea turn rough as lighting flashed across the water. The wind picked up and the rain slammed against her form. The air was defining with everything.

Through it all Jasper stayed calm. Her eyes were fixed on the horizon as she took her item from her belt. She adjusted it in her hand and closed her eyes when she placed it where she wanted.

A single sound echoed in the air, masked by the storm in the air.

When Jasper opened her eyes the storm was gone. She stood facing a bright horizon and three figures standing just out of reach in the air. Jasper was all smiles as the tallest one opened her arms. Jasper wasted no time running out into the sky to greet them.

Pink hugged her daughter tightly, apologizing her for leaving them all so suddenly and how proud she was for her eldest living as long as she did. She was so brave.

Rose was next to hug her, telling her she was stupid for joining them too early but grateful that Garnet would be there for there sister. She was content.

Last was Pearl. She hugged Jasper the tightest. She told her that she loved her and was sorry she left her so soon. She told her even if she didn't join them, they would of always been there by her side till the end.

Jasper had no words to say other then she loved them all. They all smiled at her and hugged her again before turning towards the bright light of the horizon. Pearl took Jasper's hand as Pink took the other. Linked as one they slowly walked towards the rising sun, the light getting brighter and brighter until the disappeared into it warm glow. Into Jasper's happy ever after.

Suicide is never the answer. Talk to someone, even if it hurts. There are people who love you, you just need to reach out and take there hand. I've been there. Your not alone.

**The End**


End file.
